A Demon Hunter's Story
by Lian Civit
Summary: Three years ago Naru revealed all of his secrets and closed SPR. Mai got a new job that allowed for her to continue to keep her secret yet be able to continue to do her duty. After a three year absence Naru has come back asking for the old gang's help in solving a case and to possibly re-open SPR. Rated T to be safe and due to cursing.
1. Chapter 1

**Mai's POV**

* * *

Jumping up from my bed I woke covered in a cold sweat. I'd just had another nightmare. It was the same one I'd been having every day now for two months now, and it was starting to get on my nerves. I couldn't tell if I was in the dream realm or the realm in between and that terrifies me. When I close my eyes, I'm projected into place that is complete darkness. In this place someone calls to me, pleading for my help, but I don't know how. For some reason while I'm in this place I recognize the voice, but the moment I'm back to the real world I can't recall who it is that's calling me.

Hell, I couldn't tell if the voice was male or female. I couldn't even tell if the voice belonged to a demon, an actual person, or a spirit. This was a cause for concern as I was normally able to tell the difference between the dreams. If it was a ghost there was no way I could help it as I no longer work for a ghost hunter.

It's funny that ever since I worked for Naru I learned more about myself and the powers, or abilities as some prefer, that I possess. I possess ESP, post cognitive dreams, clairvoyance, and astral projection, but I'm not qualified to do anything in the form of exorcisms, not that I want to I have too much on my hands as it is.

Even during my time as an assistant to a ghost hunter I was never allowed to help with the cleansings or the exorcisms, even after my abilities were discovered. Naru was always telling me that I'd probably mess something up if I ever tried. He was probably right, but hey you gotta start somewhere and I've always wanted to learn how to help someone move on.

Sighing I got up gathering clothes to change into once I got out of the shower. Glancing at the calendar on my way to the bathroom, it was June 3rd. I gave a small smile, today marked the third year since SPR closed. Three years since I'd seen Lin, Naru, Madoka, and Gene. At that thought I felt a pang of sadness, but pushed it away.

SPR better known as Shibuya Psychic Research was only supposed to be a cover up for Naru aka Kazuya Shibuya aka Oliver Davis. Naru was searching for his twin brother Eugene, Gene for short, who he'd thought was dead. I remember the day that the four of them left, Naru had told me not to bother trying to get another job as Madoka would be coming back to Japan to reopen SPR and that she wanted me as her assistant. He said that Madoka wanted to train me further so I could help with future cases.

I'd waited for Madoka's return for five months and when I didn't hear from her, Lin, or Naru I gave up and got a job.

To this day I still laugh on how I ended up working for Naru. I'd accidentally broken one of his expensive cameras in addition to injuring Lin. Naru demanded I help him with the rest of the case he was working on at my school. I apparently piqued is interest enough as he'd hired me to work for him as a part time assistant after he was finished with my school's case.

I never told him that during the case I'd had a dream where I thought Naru had visited me. That wasn't the only time that I thought Naru was visiting me through my dreams, it was throughout all the cases we worked. I didn't find out that it was Gene who was visiting me until shortly before he left. Apparently even though Gene was in a coma he was a strong enough medium that he could visit me in the planes of my dreams. To this day I still wish I knew how he could do that.

Thinking back to my dream I knew I wasn't the right person to help if it was indeed a ghost. This was not only due to me being unqualified, but I was also born an onishi demon hunter. It's rare for an onishi demon hunter to deal with ghosts, but when we do it's not to help them move on. Usually when an onishi demon hunter comes face to face with a ghost, that ghost is 99.95 of the time so beyond help that we must destroy it and even that is very rare. An onishi demon hunter's main responsibilities lay with taking care of demons (obviously), demon-ghosts, and those that belong to the death court.

My kind are a very rare breed of demon hunters that are thought not to exist. Obviously, we do exist, we just like to keep on the down low. There's more of us than one would initially think, and though we don't make ourselves known we still get together every now and then to have meetings. I guess it could be considered that we have our own council, but one that the demon hunter's council doesn't know exists, which is how we like it.

The demon hunter's council was established in Scotland and is the only council in the entire world for demon hunters, so they have more power than they need. The fact that no one has ever challenged them, at least not till I came along, is amazing. Most are afraid of challenging the council as they are not afraid of kicking a demon hunter out of the demon hunter's society, and those not a part of the society are considered a rogue. Those who've gone rogue are not respected and are to be killed on sight. By the council's rules I am technically a rogue demon hunter, since I have not been a part of the demon hunter's society for five years now. Funny how everyone is too afraid of challenging me.

I've been told that if I were ever to start my own society for demon hunters here in Japan, 90% of England's demon hunter society would leave to join mine. Apparently, the council pissed everyone off the moment that I not only quit the council, but also the society. I'm not sure what everyone saw in me, but they looked up to me. I do know that I am the strongest demon hunter of the entire society, full of myself I know, but in this line of work you can't doubt your ability or you're as good as dead.

Thinking about the council always gets my blood boiling as I know something that the rest pf the society doesn't know, but as long as the council leaves the demon hunters alone in handling their own guilds I'll keep my mouth shut. Though I have a feeling that the day that I'll have to say something will be coming soon, especially when they finally decide I'm too powerful and send Angeline after me. What the council doesn't know is that I know that Angeline is a demon-ghost and that I am one of the few who are capable of killing her.

Glancing at the clock I realized that I'd spent way too much time thinking about the past that if I didn't leave now I would be late for work and my boss would ream my ass for being late. Running out onto the sidewalk I bumped into someone hard enough that I landed on my rear end. I was slightly dazed wondering what happened when a hand appeared in front of my face. I gasped and jumped up bowing, apologizing like crazy. The person grunted in response which caused me to look up in annoyance.

The man was almost seven-foot-tall with black hair that covered his right eye. The man looked very familiar to me, but I couldn't place from where. He wore all black clothes and his eyes were grey, but when he moved slightly I noticed that his right eye wasn't grey, but blue. I blinked once, twice before it hit me where I knew him from.

"Lin-san!?"

He looked surprised that I knew his name and I don't blame him for not recognizing me. It's been three years and I did grow up quite a bit during that time. It also didn't hurt that I'd changed my style. My hair was no longer short, but long and in a ponytail. I also had blonde highlights put in it. Gone were my skirt wearing days and instead I wore jeans that fit me perfectly and t-shirts that I found comfortable. Oh, and I was no longer five two, I now stand at five, five.

"Do I know you?" he asked giving me a once over.

"Well if that isn't insulting," I said in irritation, "it's only been three years since I last saw you. I haven't changed that much… Have I?"

His eyes widened a fraction before the went back to normal. He finally recognized who I was and that made me grin as I could tell that he was shocked. Though I couldn't tell if he was more shocked that I bumped into him or because of how much I changed. I was happy to see him after all these years, but then my heart sank. If Lin was here that meant Naru was here too and I so did not want to see him right now. I still haven't gotten over his rejection and I was still in love with the asshole. Looking at my phone I noticed that I was officially late for work.

"Shit, I'm late! Sorry for running into you Lin, but I gotta go. Tell Madoka I said hi," I said before running down the sidewalk towards my work.

I'd never been late for work at my current job so this would be interesting. According to the employee handbook I wouldn't be considered late until five minutes after my shift started, but my boss considers one minute after the start of a shift to be late. He was also the type who thought that there was no excuse good enough to be tardy. I wouldn't be surprised if he flipped out over being a second late. Arriving in front of the door I glanced at my phone to see how late I was. Two minutes… I was two freaking minutes late!

Entering the building I noticed my boss was waiting in front of the counter. I bowed apologizing immediately. When I didn't hear anything I looked up, he had a strange look on his face. He looked at me for a long moment before turning away and telling me to get to work.

 _Bizarre, he's never let any one of us off the hook if we're late. Maybe he wasn't going to say anything because this the first time since I'd been hired that I was late or maybe it's because I am one of his best employees. If that's the case I shouldn't be an exception. No, he doesn't do exceptions he'll probably make me work extra hard or have me stay after so he can lecture me._

Sighing I got ready for a busy day. Looking around the shop I made sure everything was in order before I flipped the closed sign over to open. The teashop itself was weird. Though I do have to say I enjoy it very much, despite the painful memories it brings from time to time. After all it is the same teashop I went to when I needed to buy Naru tea. The shop not only sells tea, but serves tea as well, though I was unaware that it served tea until after I started to work here. The shop portion is located at the front of the building while the "restaurant" portion is located at the back, while the upper floors is where the inventory is kept.

The shop had only been open for an hour and we were already swamped. This place was never this busy when I was working for SPR and I'm positive more guys have started to come buy tea within the last five months. Now ah days it's not unusual for a line to have formed out the door and the phone to be ringing non-stop. When the phone started ringing I left Cathy to fend for herself while I answered it.

"Blossoming Tea Shop. How can I help you?" I said hoping the person would be quick so I could go back to helping Cathy.

"Hello, does this shop serve tea?" the person over the phone asked. The person's voice sounded so familiar, but I couldn't place where I had heard the voice before.

"Yes, we do serve tea. There is a small restaurant in the back that is a part of the shop and they serve this shop's tea. We do get very busy in the afternoon so reservations are highly recommended. We do close at seven tonight," I replied going straight into business mode and stopped trying to remember where I'd heard the voice before.

"Okay thank you. I would like to make a reservation then for two thirty if that is okay?" the person said phrasing it as a question.

"Two thirty is just fine. How many people will be in your party?" I said in response once I checked the availability of a reservation.

"About fifteen people will be there."

"Okay and what name, will the reservation be under?"

"SPR," the person over the phone replied and the name almost made my heart stop beating.

 _It couldn't be the same SPR could it? No that was impossible SPR was shut down three years ago. Get a grip of yourself Mai, you're just paranoid. After all you ran into Lin earlier._

"Very well I've got you down. All you and your party has to do is come to the counter and say that you have a reservation under SPR and whoever is on duty at the time will get you situated," I said hoping the person would just hang up and I would be on break by the time they get here.

"Thank you very much um…. I'm sorry I never got your name," the person on the phone said shattering any delusional hope I had.

"It's Mai Taniyama," I replied hearing a gasp over the phone.

 _Yup it's someone I know then. I wonder who it is. It would have to be Madoka, Ayako, or Masako. Though it doesn't sound like any of them, but then again it has been three years. I have grown too, even Lin didn't recognize me._

"Are you the Mai Taniyama who knows my son Oliver?" the woman asked.

That shocked me and confirmed my thoughts on who it was. It wasn't Ayako, Madoka, or Masako, it was Naru's mother. It sort of freaked me out that Naru's mother would know who I was, but then again, she would have to know because I was an employee of her son. And if I remember correctly Lin said he had to make frequent updates to the professors. If they were going to be here I definitely wanted to take my lunch during that time. As horrible as it was to try and avoid them I just wasn't ready to see anyone yet.

"Yes, I am. I'm sorry, but if that is all you need I must get back to work. We are starting to get busy," I replied as professionally as I could.

"Oh of course dearie. I'm sorry to have held you up. Is it okay if I talk to your manager?" she asked just as professionally.

 _Well shit I wonder what said that required her to speak to the boss._

That worried me. I wonder if I did or said anything to make her mad enough to want to talk to my boss. I said yes and told Cathy that the person on the phone has requested to talk to the manager and that I was going to get him. She nodded her head and I went into the restaurant in search of him. Reezo-san has always loved cooking so he spends most of his time in the kitchen cooking even though there is already a cook there, for once I did not find him the kitchen. Nina-chan told me that he was in his office and she was correct.

Knocking softly, he looked up and nodded his granting my entrance. I came closer to his desk, but did not sit down in one of the two chairs in front of his desk. His office was sparse of any decoration. It had a few things hanging, but it mainly consisted of his desk, and three chairs. There were hardly any papers at all, which has made me wonder occasionally if he hires someone to do his paper work for him.

"Reezo-san there is a customer on the phone that wishes to speak to you," I stated and he just looked up at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Who is it?" he asked.

"I don't know. She never did give her name," I said in reply, this made him raise his other eyebrow.

"All right I will be right there in a minute," he said dismissing me.

I made my way back out into the front of the store. Letting Naru's mother know that Reezo-san would be with her momentarily. Poor Cathy was swamped with customers, and the customers were not happy with how slow she was. I could easily see that they were happy that I came back to help. They knew I was much faster than Cathy and Cathy knew this herself, but would never admit it. I was insanely curious as to what Naru's mother wanted to talk about with my boss. So, I kept an eye on them while helping customers and I would notice him frown every once in a while. He also nodded quite a bit which I thought was funny considering that she wouldn't be able to see him do it. After talking for about ten minutes he hung up and turned to me.

"Taniyama-san from two until five I want you working in the restaurant as a server. I'll have Sato-san come help out Cathy-san. You are also to have your lunch before two," he said before he turned and headed back to his office.

I was shocked and by Cathy's face she was shocked too. He's never replaced one of us with Sato before. Sato was his best server for the restaurant. If he needed someone else as a server he normally would have Enya come out to work the shop. Something was going on and it was very strange. First was the fact that I was let off the hook this morning, second was that Reezo was in his office, now this.

 _Well shit, this has become very strange._


	2. Chapter 2

**Naru's POV**

* * *

I sighed rubbing the bridge of my nose. I knew that it would be difficult to get a hold of everyone, that there was a possibility that they might still be angry with me with how I left. I thought it was better for them and for myself if I left with minimal notice. I didn't expect them to fall completely apart. I didn't realize I mattered to them that much.

Madoka was supposed to come back and continue where I left off, but apparently that never happened. I was, putting it mildly, upset that she never kept her word on taking over SPR and training Mai further with her abilities. I knew they cared deeply about each other especially Mai, so it came as a shock that they never stayed in touch.

Mai… I missed her so much, but I would never tell anyone that. After all I had a reputation to uphold. I suspect that Madoka and Lin told my parents of their suspicions on my feelings towards Mai, as my mother was ecstatic that there was a possibility of me liking someone from the opposite sex. She'd badgered me for details about Mai for weeks on end. I was able to dodge the questions when I was in Japan, but the moment I was back in England she demanded every detail I knew of her. Lucky for me Madoka supplied her with the information and I was able to hide in my office.

When I declared that I was going back to Japan to re-open SPR, my parents demanded that they also would be coming along to meet the rest of the gang. Their excuse was so that they could make sure everyone was qualified enough to work with me. In all actuality, they just wanted to meet Mai and there was nothing I could say that would discourage them.

I was somewhat grateful that everyone, but Mai kept their old numbers. Lin had been able to get a hold of everyone asking for them to meet with us at the Blossoming Tea Shop at two thirty, in which they agreed somewhat reluctantly, not that I could blame them. I didn't want to meet up at the same tea shop Mai would get my tea from, but my mother insisted upon it. I knew my mother was trying to get me to drink tea more often again as I had stopped drinking it when I left Japan. She was afraid that I no longer liked tea and would look to something else to drink. It's not that I no longer liked tea it was just everybody else's tea didn't taste like Mai's

I was nervous about meeting everyone again and it irritated me. I was Oliver Davis and nothing had made me nervous before. Lin had gone out earlier and when he'd returned he had this smug look about him and every time he looked at me when he thought I wasn't paying attention he had this smirk on his face. It was getting to the point where it irritated me to know end, it was like he knew something major and wasn't going to share it. It made me a little afraid because he never got that look unless mother and Madoka were up to something.

"Noll." _Speak of the devil and she will call._

"Yes, mother," I replied knowing full well that if I didn't answer she'd come and reprimand me for not answering.

"Come here a moment," was her response which didn't bode well for me.

I sighed setting aside the black folder I had been trying to read for the past two hours. It appeared that no matter what I wouldn't be able to keep my mind focused on anything, but Mai. I found it quite worrisome that she vanished from the group she considered family. Though I also found it unsettling was how mother was acting around me. She was up to something and I wanted to know what it was that she was scheming. Even though I was curious as to what she was up too I knew better than to ask.

Entering the room, I prepared for the worst and said, "Yes, mother. What is it?"

"Come sit next me we need to talk." I sighed and complied to her wish and sat down next to her. Once sitting next to her she continued talking with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "I want to know more about this Mai Taniyama girl that Madoka and Lin have mentioned."

I sighed and plotted my revenge against Lin and Madoka for mentioning Mai to my mother. Knowing that I had to say something I said, "There's not much to talk about. When I was last here she was my assistant/secretary. She helped out on cases and filed reports when we weren't on a case."

I knew that mother wanted to what I felt for Mai more than she wanted to know about Mai in a work sense. I wanted to hold off on telling her what I felt for Mai for as long as possible, but I know she will somehow get me to say it before the end of our conversation.

"You know that, that was not what I wanted to hear. I also wanted to remind you about the two thirty meeting at the Blossoming Tea Shop, which is in half an hour. So why don't you fess up and tell me how you feel about Miss Taniyama before you get ready to go? And don't you dare and try to lie to me and say that you don't know what I am talking about."

 _How I feel? What do I feel for Mai?_ Every time I thought about Mai and what could have happened to make her leave without telling anyone my chest tightened. It was the same tightening I felt when I saw Mai with another male. I couldn't stand the sight of her and another. Gene always said that I was in love with her and I might admit that there is a possibility that I am in love with her, not that I would admit it to anyone, but even if I did love her she's in love with my brother.

"To be honest mother I don't know what I feel for Mai. Even if I did know what I felt what does it matter when no one can find her?" I said a little too bitter at the fact that Mai couldn't be found.

My mother looked at me funny as if she couldn't tell if I was lying or not, which somewhat surprised me. In the end, she smiled nodded and walked away, but not before I caught another glint of mischievousness in her eyes. Seeing that made me worry at what she was planning.

"Mother!" I yelled realizing a small detail that could be detrimental to my goal.

"What is it sweetie?" she asked turning around to look at me at with a confused look.

"Who all are we going to be meeting at the tea shop today? Who is coming with us?" I asked hoping she wouldn't list the one person I despised.

"Let's see there is you, me, your father, and your brother, Lin, Madoka, John, Takigawa, Masako, Yasuhara, Ayako, and Stephan. Why?" she asked looking even more confused.

"Please don't let Cousin Stephan come to the tea shop to meet the rest of the gang. And before you ask why I will tell you. He will defeat the purpose of trying to get them to come back to SPR. He would probably make sarcastic remarks and would judge them the moment he meets them," I replied in all honesty.

"All right sweetie if that's what you want. I will see that it is done," she replied with a smile.


	3. Chapter 3

**Mai's POV**

* * *

I found myself watching the time and dreading the switch with Sato. I wasn't nervous to be working in the back or the possibility of seeing everyone again, it was due to how Sato would react. Sato is a wonderful person, but most of the times he's left to work the restaurant part while everyone else worked wherever was needed. To me he seems shy, like he doesn't know how to interact with other people. In fact, he reminds me of Naru oops I mean Dr. Davis in this aspect.

The other employees are always gossiping about some rumor involving Sato whether it is scandalous or not. If a person were to believe those rumors it's a wonder why he tries to be nice to those who are so malicious towards him. I always made sure to say, "good morning" to him and "goodbye I'll see you tomorrow" because I didn't believe the rumors and didn't think it fair that he must suffer because of other people.

I was correct, Sato wasn't happy to hear that he would be the one who was pulled to work in the front. The boss probably wanted someone competent to work with Cathy, instead of sending Adannaya, who just flirted with the male customers and ignored the female ones. I was caught off guard when he stopped me in his way up front. He was currently wearing a frown which seemed to be wrong. If it wasn't for his expressive brown eyes I would have believed him to be upset with me.

Sato was too handsome to have a frown on his face. He stood at six feet so he was taller than me by seven inches. His hair was blonde and swept back out of his face so I could never tell the true length of it. Today he wore a dark grey t-shirt that hugged his broad shoulders and muscular arms pared with black jeans that hugged his slim hips and legs to flare out at his combat boot clad feet.

"Hey there short stuff. You know why the boss has yanked me from the back to the front?" he asked which was the most I'd heard out of him in one sitting.

"Not a clue sorry. Do you have any idea of why I'm to be serving in the back?" I was hoping that maybe he'd heard something that would help put a missing piece within the puzzle.

"Nope, though I do wish you were the one working with me in the store front and not Cathy or the two of us working in the restaurant. You treat me like a person and not someone with a disease. Besides you're the prettiest of all of the female employees." He gave me a soft smile before walking through the doors that led to the front.

 _The prettiest one? What is he talking about?_ I thought as I continued, on my way to the female changing room where I donned on the waitress uniform and got ready to start serving.

I was glad that the waitress uniform wasn't like the typical uniform girls would were like the ones you'd see in manga where the skirt was so short you practically saw their butt. The outfit consisted of a black skirt that fell at knee length paired with a crisp button up white shirt and black dress shoes or something similar.

As I left the changing room I noticed that Adannaya stood outside the men's changing room, she was probably waiting for Sato to come out. Adannaya, the newest employee at The Blossoming Tea Shop, was 5' 3" with shoulder length golden blonde hair and dark green eyes. I'm pretty sure she's an American, but I couldn't be sure and to top it off she's very snobby. I've yet to meet a polite American, but then again there is a first time for everything.

She thinks so much of herself that I often compare her to a female version of Naru, but there are times where she is far worse than Naru. Naru at least thought about the well-being of the people around him while he made it seem like he didn't care at all. Adannaya on the other hand doesn't care for anyone at all, if it didn't benefit her then it was no concern of hers.

When she heard the door to the female dressing room open she glanced at me. Giving me a once over she gave me a look of disdain before turning back to the men's changing room. It makes me wonder if she thinks I'm wearing the waitress outfit for shits and giggles. She must believe that I'm foolish and that I'm not supposed to be working back here with her.

"Hello, Adannaya, it looks like you and I will be working in the restaurant today," I said in a syrupy sweet voice. There was no way that I was going to try to get on her bad side. She was a stuck-up bimbo with a bad temper and could hold a grudge like no other.

Giving me a once over she sniffed, stuck her nose in the air and said, "Where's Sato?"

I rolled my eyes half not believing her obvious disdain of me. I decided that I didn't care for her attitude and I figured that no matter what I did she'd hate me even more for it. So, I spoke in a chirpy tone knowing that it would get her panties in a bunch. Childish yes, uncalled for yes, fun? Oh, hell yes. "The boss has him working the front of the store with Cathy while I'm working the restaurant with you."

As was expected her expression was one worth waiting for. Her face screwed up making her beautiful face look like an ogre's, but she probably didn't realize it and thought she still looked pretty. Granted she was pretty just not when she was upset.

"Well I don't want to work with you," she said giving me another disgusted look.

"To damn bad. You're stuck with me whether you liked it or not you stuck up bitch," I said in response. Her eyes got as huge as saucers and her mouth was agape. I was getting sick of her thinking I was less than her quickly. I could only take so much crap before I started dishing it out just as much. I narrowed my eyes causing her to squirm further. I opened my mouth to say something more before I shut it and walked past her making sure I brushed her to the side. I didn't have time to deal with petty people. She smiled thinking that I thought I'd screwed up, but she was dead wrong.

 _You think you've won for now, but just wait until we start working then we see who will be the one smiling. After all I don't have to help you with your customers._

Walking away I picked up several menus and started seating customers. I knew I would be taking on the brunt of the customer load and I was correct, though I did get satisfaction from her messing up most of her customers' orders. She looked to me for help several times throughout the half hour we worked together, but I refused to help her.

At two o'clock I was ready for my lunch break, but couldn't take it because Adannaya had taken hers a few minutes before two. I was irritated by the time she came back as it was almost two thirty and I was told to have my lunch done before two thirty. Part of me hoped that they would be late or not showed up at all, but then again part of me wanted them to show up so I could see everyone again.

I heard a group enter the from the front and saw that it was the gang. I knew I had to get to them before Adannaya or things would get tricky and I was not in the mood to deal with her or the hassle. I saw that Adannaya had noticed the group or more like she noticed Naru. She was on her way to greet them when she was stopped by a customer. Taking the opportunity, I hustled to the group gaining shocked glances from the group.

"Welcome to the Blossoming Tea Shop. You all wouldn't happen to be SPR would you?" I asked with a sweet smile on my face all the while hoping that none of them recognized me.

An older woman stepped forward with a kind smile on her face and said, "Yes, it is. I'm Luella Davis, I called earlier and made a reservation with a Miss Mai Taniyama."

I watched as everyone perked up at the name, even Naru's head came up and a questioning glint was in his eyes. The only one who wasn't looking around was Lin and he gave me a slight smile which made me frown in return. It made me wonder what he was up to. The man never smiled at me under any circumstance.

"Jou-chan works here? Is it at all possible to see her?" Monk asked obviously not realizing he'd already seen me.

Before I could say anything to the group, I noticed that Lin had bent over and was whispering into Madoka's ear. Fear shot through me when I saw her eye go big and she looked between me and Lin. Getting a closer look, she gave a small squeal before launching herself onto me giving me the hardest hug I've ever had all the while saying, "Oh my gosh Mai! It's so good to see you again. You've changed a lot since the last time I saw you. Don't get me wrong you look awesome! You even got taller."

It took everyone a minute before they caught on to what was going on and when they did they all said in unison, "Mai?!"

"Hello, Madoka it's good to see you again too," I said as I hugged the pink haired woman. She hadn't changed at all since the last time I'd seen her, she was still bubbly.

I gave everyone else a smile before giving Lin a mock glare and saying, "Really Lin-san? Did you have to say something? For once I had the upper hand and you just had to ruin it."

He gave me a sheepish smile before saying, "I'm sorry Taniyama-san, but I knew that no one would have recognized you. I didn't recognize you when we bumped into each other this morning. It wasn't until you said something that I recognized you. Your hair is longer and has highlights in it. Then there's your wardrobe, you're no longer wearing skirts or shorts."

I was shocked to say the least. That was the first time I'd heard Lin talk more than three words that didn't involve Naru or a case. And by the looks of it I wasn't the only one who was shocked, everyone else looked just as shocked. Madoka gave me another smile and a big hug. I heard someone clear their throat and when I turned around there was Adannaya with hands on her hips. She did not look happy in the slightest. It was probably due to the fact that I beat her to a customer she deemed worthy of her presence.

"Mai, what are you doing? You're supposed to be working not slacking off. I've been dealing with all of the customers while you've been doing nothing!" she stated sounding completely irritated. She probably thought that if she said that I'm not a good worker and she is that they would have her serve them, which would happen over my dead body and by the looks of it the gang didn't believe her.

Smiling I looked at Adannaya and said in a syrupy sweet voice, "Adannaya sweetie you've done no such thing. I am the one who has been working non-stop and covering for your mistakes. You're mad that I'm the one working back here instead of Sato and you're mad at the fact that I beat you to these customers, when you wanted to get them because of how handsome one or more of them are. I'm not stupid and if you think I will allow you to degrade me in front of customers then you're more stupid than I originally thought. If anything, it will make me make you look not only stupid in front of the customers, but desperate too. Now you have customers that you've neglected to help and they're trying to flag you down go take care of them while I help this group."

Everyone in the vicinity that heard our conversation was trying not to laugh at Adannaya. If looks could kill, I probably would have just died. She was glaring at me big time, but her glares were nothing compared to Naru's ice cold glares. Speaking of the devil himself Naru cleared his throat and said, "If you don't mind, do as you've been told so Mai can get back to her job and we can get to why we are here."

Adannaya turned crimson red, huffed and turned around, but before she could get far I called out, "Oh and Adannaya before you even think about going and complaining to Reezo-san remember there are cameras in here that have audio on them too."

The look of comprehension that went across her face was priceless. Some of the other customers thought so too because they burst out laughing at her. Poor delusional Adannaya should have known better than to have messed with me. I have had way too much experience with shutting people down. Looking to the rest of the gang I gestured them to follow me. I lead them to a secluded corner where they would be able to talk with relative privacy.

"Here we are you'll be able to talk openly here without people overhearing things by accident," I said as I set menus down for them. "For you all I will be making your tea so it may be a bit longer than usual before I can take your orders for food. I hope you do not mind."

Naru looked at me with bored eyes and said, "That's fine as long as you're the one making the tea."

"All right, does everybody still drink what they did three years ago?" I asked and at their nods I smiled and turned to Luella and the man next to her. "What would the two of you like to drink?"

"I'll take whatever my son Oliver is having," Luella said with a bright smile.

"I'll have the same," the man next to her said.

"All right, I'll be back with your drink orders," I said and as I started to walk away I saw Reezo-san, Sato, and Argyle walk into the restaurant.

Reezo-san motioned both Adannaya and me over. Walking over I saw Adannaya give me a smug look, what it was for I could only guess. Both Sato and Argyle smiled at me when I got there. I noticed that they both pointedly ignored Adannaya.

"Hello Mai-san," Sato said dipping his head.

"Hey there, Mai-chan, working hard like always I see. How are you doing?" Argyle greeted in his deep Irish accented voice.

"Hello, Sato-san. And Argyle-kun you know I always work hard whether I'm on the clock or not," I said giving Argyle a pointed look. As a fellow demon hunter, he should know I can't afford to be lazy. Being lazy can be a sure way to obtain death in our field of work.

"I know I just wanted to give you a hard time about it. We both know we work hard no matter where we are," he said in reply.

"Adannaya I want you to go up to the front and help Cathy work the shop, while Sato and Argyle work the restaurant. Mai you've been here long enough you can leave for the day," Reezo-san said in a no arguments allowed tone.

"Reezo-san may I please make the tea for our latest customers before I clock out?" I asked hoping he would say yes.

"Very well, but you can only make tea for them and them only. I want you clocked out as soon as possible. You work way too hard and need to relax. I mean it young lady."

"Yes sir," I said in reply. Reezo-san was one of the few non-demon hunters that knew about me and Argyle. I have a sneaking suspicion that Sato-san is also a demon hunter based on his lack of reaction of when Argyle-kun makes references to are other hobby, but didn't have any proof.

I felt bad for Cathy because she'd be working with a scowling Adannaya, while I got to go home. I headed for the employee lounge to change into my regular clothes after I let both Sato-san and Argyle-kun know that I only got SPR's drink orders and not their food orders. After changing I got the drinks ready and headed to the group's table. As I arrived and passed out the drinks I got several weird stares from the gang.

"All right here you go. My boss says I've got to clock out. Sato or Argyle will be your server and will be coming to get your guys food order. I'll see you all around," I said trying to get out of here as fast as possible before I got roped into talking with them. I didn't have time for it, I needed to go investigate the park that I passed on the way to work. I'm pretty sure that I felt the presence of a demon and if that was true I needed to take care of it and fast before it hurt or worse killed someone.

"If that's the case why don't you sit down and chat with us for a little bit. I'd like to hear how you've been these last three years," Madoka exclaimed excited at the thought of catching up.

"What an excellent idea," Luella said agreeing with what Madoka said all the while having this smug smile on her face. I have a feeling that she set this up with Reezo-san so I could join them.

 _Crap I don't have time for this._

"I can't stay long. I have another appointment after this," I replied with a strained smile taking the only open seat left and that seat was next to Naru, this caused everyone, but Masako, Lin, and Naru to smile wickedly.

 _I stood corrected the demons were at this table._

"So, Mai, what have you been up to since we last saw you?" Madoka asked.

"I haven't been up to much. I've been working here mostly, though I did graduate two years ago," I said not really wanting to talk about what I've been doing. They didn't need to know about my life outside of this work.

"If you graduated two years ago wouldn't that have made you seventeen?" Yasu asked me.

"Yes, I was seventeen when I graduated. I could have graduated at sixteen, but I didn't feel like it." I replied in a somewhat bored tone.

"Since when have you been that smart?" Masako asked snidely causing me to roll my eyes.

"I've always been that smart when it comes to school work. You all assumed I wasn't because of Dr. Davis. If you all would have stopped and thought about it most people would be considered stupid compared to him even if they were a straight A college student at the age of twenty," I spat back at her completely offended at the fact that they truly believed I was stupid.

I watched as most of them flinch and mumble some apologies. Naru just stared at me not saying anything which ticked me off a little bit. I mean I didn't expect him to say anything, but still his silence is unnerving. At least Lin had the decency to look ashamed.

"So, what are you all doing here?" I asked trying to move the conversation along so I could leave sooner.

"Good question. Why are we here, Naru?" Ayako asked while glancing at her perfectly manicured red nails.

"Naru?" the man next to Luella stated in a question.

"That's Noll's nickname here in Japan. Mai came up with it," Madoka said in answer to the man.

"What does it stand for?" Luella asked.

No one answered her, instead they looked at me obviously expecting me to answer her. I stayed quiet because I did not want to bring up old memories and old wounds. It was beginning to become quite awkward until Sato-san came over to get everyone's food order. He seemed surprised to see that I was still here.

"Mai, you haven't left yet?" he asked.

"No, these are some old friends and co-workers of mine. They wanted to catch up before I left," I said with a smile plastered on my face. To most of them it looked genuine, but I probably didn't fool Naru or Lin.

"Oh okay. Do you want me to get anything for you? After all you worked around six and half hours without taking a break. You're probably starving, aren't you?" he asked with a kind smile and concern in his eyes. "As the boss said you work too much and that can't be good for your health. And before you say anything yes, I do care about you. You are kind enough to talk to me when most people don't, you're not intimidated by me and I appreciate that."

"Thanks, but I'm not hungry," I replied. Truth is that I'm starving, but I don't want to fight a demon on a full stomach, that wouldn't be a pretty sight.

He smiled said okay and took everyone's order before walking off. The moment he was out of sight everyone started questioning me about whether I was dating Sato-san or not. I shouldn't have expected less, but it was kind of irritating as I haven't heard from them in three years yet everyone is acting like nothing's happened.

"All right back to where we left off. Why are you all here?" I said completely ignoring the question about Naru's nickname.

"The reason is I am re-opening SPR. This will be a permanent re-opening. I do not plan on closing it down this time and was wondering if you all would like to come back," Naru said with complete seriousness and devoid of all emotion.

 _That bastard! If he thinks I am going to come back after everything he did, then he's got another thing coming! The nerve of him! He doesn't even look nervous that everyone might say no._

"I'll be willing to come back," Masako said.

 _Of course, you would._

"I've got nothing better to do," Yasu stated. "After all I am an excellent researcher for the group and college is very boring."

"I'm in," both Ayako and Monk replied as one.

"I'm in as long as I would still be able to help out at the church," John said.

I was the only person left who didn't say anything and I didn't want to. There was no way I could work for Naru again after being rejected. He might be able to act like it never happened, but I can't do that and I won't do that. I looked up and saw that Gene was staring at me. It wasn't the expecting stare like with the other, but one that was trying to figure something out.

"Gene? Is there something wrong? You've been staring at me for a while," I asked concerned that he knows what I'm thinking.

"Mai for the last two months have you been dreaming about a person asking, no pleading for your help?" he asked after a moment's hesitation.

I froze. There was no way he could have known about that. Unless he has had the same dream too and was seeing if I also had them. My eyes were wide and I'm pretty sure I looked like a deer caught in headlights. "How did you know that? Have you been having them too?"

"Yes and no. They aren't my dreams their yours. Every once in a while, I'll be pulled into your dreams. I don't feel the things you do, but I can see your reactions and hear what's going on. I hear the girl that is pleading with you and I see your confusion, but other than that I do not have anything to do with what goes on in the dream. I started getting pulled into these dreams about two months ago," he said with a far-off look in his eyes.

"Yes, I've been having those dreams every night for about two months now. In the dream I feel as if I recognize the voice, but once I wake up I have no concept on who it is," I stated trying to remember as much details about the dreams as possible.

"I see. I have one more question for you," he said becoming serious. For a second he looked just like Naru does when he is about to interrogate someone.

"Okay let me hear it," I replied instantly nervous about what he was going to say.

"The tattoos on your shoulders. When did you get them and what do they mean?" he asked scaring the ever-loving crap out of me.

 _Fuck! I didn't realize he could see them. The only way he could know about them is from my dreams. I must have been wearing my demon hunter's outfit._

I didn't say a word. My hand on its own volition moved to where one of my demon hunter's mark was located. My eyes felt like they were widened considerably and I'm pretty sure I was pale. But before I could say anything Monk spoke up. "What! Jou-chan having tattoos? That's highly unlikely. Is this true Jou-chan?"

I still didn't say anything though I guess I could give a little information. So, I replied with, "No, I do not have any tattoos." I'm not lying when I say this. I'm a born demon hunter so I was born with the demon hunter's mark on my shoulder. A born demon hunter will have two demon hunter's mark while someone who becomes a demon hunter that wasn't born one will receive only one mark. The marks aren't a tattoo or brand, though they are closer to the second one than the first, they're just a mark that shows up on demon hunters. A non-born demon hunter only receives the mark of a demon hunter once they kill a demon. So, they have a chance to get out of the job if they change their mind.

Once a demon hunter always a demon hunter. Born a demon hunter die a demon hunter. That's the motto for demon hunters and it is truer than anything out there.

"Are you calling Gene a liar then?" Masako asked trying to spite me I'm sure.

Before I could say anything, Argyle came up to our table with everyone's food. He was frowning at me before he looked at the group. I knew he could see my obvious discomfort. "Mai, it is three o'clock don't you have a date you're supposed to meet at the park before you go home?"

I realized what he was doing immediately and was glad for it. He must have felt the demon's presence too. Acting on what he said I jumped up exclaiming, "Shit! It's three already! Yeah, I've got to meet someone. Bye see you Monday."

As I headed to leave Argyle called out, "Oh and I got a call from Stephan. He's in town and wants to talk to you tomorrow. Do you want to know where he's at?"

"Text, it to me. I gotta go. See ya!" was all I said as I rushed out the door.


	4. Chapter 4

**Mai's POV**

* * *

Bolting out of the tea shop I headed towards the park, all the while thinking how Stephan could have found me. I didn't think I'd ever be found here in Japan. I thought I had covered my tracks so no one could locate me, but it looks like I was wrong.

 _How could Stephan have found me? I know none of the demon hunters here in Japan would tell anyone I was here. Some wouldn't be able to say anything since, not all of them could speak English or Gaelic. I'm giving them too little credit, none of them would rat me out because they have more honor than that, if not they have something against the Demon Hunter's Society like I do. They made the mistake of banishing me, now I want nothing to do with them._

As I approached the park the presence of a demon became stronger. It was so strong that I was almost not sure if I could pin point its location. "Damn, this thing must be a level five demon."

I needed to somehow draw out the demon and I had to be careful about it. Closing my eyes, I channeled all my focus on trying to locate exactly where the demon was. Doing this leaves me defenseless and not fully aware of my surroundings. This move is not usually done without someone there to guard your back, but I wasn't like most demon hunters. I hardly carried any weapons with me, I didn't see the need to as I enchanted all my weapons with an engraving that allowed me to summon them no matter where I was.

I usually didn't use weapons when I fought demons as I preferred the challenge and the workout it took to take down a demon barehanded. I was hoping the demon would attack me when he thought I was defenseless and if that didn't work I'd at least be able to pin point his exact location. I wasn't disappointed as the demon did as I'd predicted.

Catching a flash to my left I ducked as the demon's claws went to swipe the left side of my face. In a crouch I summoned my favorite Kung Fu fans. Most people laugh or chuckle when they see me pull out these fans.

What people don't understand is that these fans had been used as weapons since the Edo Period It's greatly debated who first invented the fan, China or Japan, but they've been used in many wars and by many military generals. War fans are very easy to conceal and are readily available in close combat. The fan is made from iron or steal that folds allowing for easy storage/carriage, when opened it makes a clanking sound that can throw an enemy off. When the fan is closed and the user has excellent skill they can block blows from several types of weapons.

It also helped that I had the fan enchanted so that couldn't break during battle. The fans were mint green, similar to my aura, and has a white nine-tailed fox on the material. The kitsune is my animal to call or a protector if you would like to refer it to that. Every weapon I own has a kitsune on it somewhere.

I saw the demon's shocked face when I turned on my heels and hit him square in the gut with the end of a closed fan. I opened the fans when he stumbled back and using the air currents to my advantage so I could keep my balance as I jumped to his side. The moment I landed on my feet I switched from my fans to my hooked swords, another Chinese weapon. Each sword has a sharp blade similar to the jian, though possibly thicker or sometimes unsharpened, with a prong or hook near the tip. Guards are substantial, in the style of butterfly swords. Often used in pairs, the hooks of the weapons may be used to trap or deflect other weapons.

Once more I didn't allow the demon enough time to react as I charged bringing one of the swords down and hooking his left wrist. As I went to hook the blade around his neck the demon became smoke and reappeared behind me. Whipping around I was temporary stunned when his claws hit me across my face, the fucker had tried to blind me, but he had hit me too soon and wasn't able to catch my eyes instead he hit my temple, which was bad enough. Taking advantage of my current predicament and knocked both swords out of my hands causing the guards on the swords to cut into my hands.

I dropped onto the ground before he had the chance to attack again and kicked out at as his feet. Hitting my mark, I sent him tumbling over me and as he landed on me I shoved up into his stomach making him fly onto his back. I noticed with satisfaction that I'd knocked the breath out of the demon. With blood dripping into my left eye I summoned a chakram, is circular in shape with a sharpened outer edge and ranges in size from approximately 4.7–11.8 in in diameter. The chakram is primarily a throwing weapon but can also be used hand-to-hand. This is one of my deadliest weapons and is also one of the easiest weapons to handle that I owned.

Taking aim, I threw the chakram and the moment he gained his footing the chakram hit and took out his left arm, this seemed to infuriate him. I side stepped his next attack pulling out two katars and jabbed one in him in the side with my right hand. Katars are a push dagger that are characterized by its H-shaped horizontal hand grip which results in the blade sitting above the user's knuckles. This seemed to finish him off because he burst into a white flame.

The only way you can tell a demon is dead is when they burst into white flame, if they don't they can come back to life stronger than before. I stayed for a couple moments later to make sure that he was the only demon in the vicinity. It was strange how whenever a demon was around there was no one to witness their defeat. Ghosts are a little different, most of the time they played pranks on people or tried to kill them. To ghosts it didn't matter if people were around or not where as a demon preferred to pick off their victims one at a time with no witnesses.

Heading back to the entrance of the park I saw a car park and the driver jump out. I was too far away to see who it was but I recognized the person's aura. The aura was a light violet color which meant it was Sasha, a Russian demon hunter who came to Japan because she couldn't stand working with the Demon Hunter's Society anymore. She ran up and took in my pitiful appearance.

"Damn, girl, you look like shit," she said with her Russian accent that everyone gives her grief over. How she can stand such a climate change as from Russia to Japan I will never know.

"Thanks, a lot, Sasha. Do you have a first aid kit in your truck?" I asked trying to stop my face from bleeding any more than it had.

"Sure do, sweet pea. Do you want me to take care of the blood on the ground while you fix up your face?" she asked.

"That would be nice thank you," I replied as she handed me her keys.

Cleaning up the blood and my wound didn't take as long as I thought it would. It only took me fifteen minutes to sanitize and bind the wound. When I finished I looked to Sasha to see that she was almost finished with cleaning the blood I left behind. Once she was done she joined me back at her truck.

"So, how many demons were there to be able to give you that wound?" she asked while she went over my handy work, making sure that I did everything correct. When she was satisfied she patted the side of my head and pointed to the passenger side.

I didn't answer her until I got in and was buckled. "There was only one, but I am pretty sure he was a level five demon. If he wasn't that he was a level four."

"Damn, that strong? Haven't seen one that strong in this area in a while. How did you kill him?"

"With a katar," I said paying more attention to the road than I was to the conversation.

"A what?" she asked stopping the truck.

"A katar. You know the superhero Wolverine right," I asked trying to figure out the best way to describe what a katar was.

"He was the superhero with the retractable steel claws right," she replied after she thought for a little bit.

"Correct. A katar is similar to Wolverine's claws. A katar looks like a single blade until activated. Once activated it splits into three separate blades. There are some katars that are a single blade only such as mine are. The katar originated in India," I replied as she started the truck one more time and headed to Japan's demon hunter's temporary headquarters.

"You have an interesting weapon there. I've heard people talking about the many different weapons you have. Listening to them I did not once hear anything about you having a katar. How many weapons do you own?" Sasha sounded amazed that I could possibly own several weapons.

I shrugged before I answered her, "I own several weapons. I like to collect a lot of the medieval type weapons. The weapons I have acquired since the beginning of this year have been: the katar, kakute, which is a spiked ring that can be very deadly if laced with a poison that will kill a demon, haladie, sodegarami, zweihaender, fire lance, atlatl, khopesh, shotel, Chinese Dao, and an urumi, which is a flexible sword whip. I had to take special training to be able to obtain the urumi. My all-time favorite type of weapon of all the weapons I've obtained is the Glaive spears and my favorite glaive is the knife glaive. My second favorite would be the halberd spear, next to that would be the fauchard spear. My next weapons to get are the French voulge and Scythe spear."

"Holy shit woman, that's a lot of weapons. Do you own any swords?" she asked sounding astonished.

"Sure, I do. Some of those I listed off were sword types. I own swords from a sabre to a scimitar to a bastard sword," I replied nonchalantly.

"You know what, your parents shouldn't have named you Mai. They should have named you Gladiola or Marylou," she said still awestruck as she parked in the parking lot behind the hunters' headquarter.

"Why do you say that? What do those names mean?" I asked a little miffed.

"Gladiola is Latin for sword and Marylou means their rebellion or a famous warrior. Your name means dance does it not?" she replied not sounding remorseful.

"It depends which version you go off of, it can mean blossom, real or true, love or affection, or the month of May. Though if you think of it swordsmanship can be considered a dance of itself," I answered as I got out of the truck.

"Come on in so I can re-disinfect and re-bandage your face. I am afraid of it getting infected," she said. I looked at her face to see if she had any ulterior motive to get me to join or take over as a leader. When I saw none, I nodded my head in agreement and followed her into the old building that needed major repairs.

I noticed that the inside had been redone since the last time I had set foot in here. I followed Sasha down the hall passed several offices. Every time I came in here it still amazed me on how big it actually was compared to the outside. Sasha led me to the main conference room, I noticed that this room had the most renovation out of all that I had seen. The room has a new flat screen tv, a new table, new conference chairs, and a new technological system, it was quite impressive.

There was someone working on the system board, I could tell he was not from Japan, he looked to be from China or from a country near China. He was very handsome, with his black hair and emerald green eyes. When he stood up I could tell he was about six-foot-tall and had broad shoulders. Sasha smiled at the fact that I was openly staring at him before she said, "Mai this is our newest member of our unofficial guild, Ace Wilkons. Ace this Mai Taniyama, aka the Celtic Demon."

"No way, you mean _the Celtic Demon_!" he said seeming awestruck as he stuck his hand out for me to shake.

I took his hand and shook it knowing he wanted to test to see if I was as good as everyone said I was. As I suspected he threw a punch that was fast, faster than I expected most people to throw. It still wasn't fast enough to catch me off guard because I caught his hand as I sidestepped and twisted both hands while I swept his feet from underneath him. Once he was on his back I let go of both hands and stepped back to insure he couldn't use any leg kicks on me.

"Nice try, but you're going to have to do better than that if you want to best me," I said with a sideways glance at him as I went towards Sasha so she could re-bandage it.

"Wow you're good most, people can't see my punch until it's too late. What happened to you?"

"She got in a fight with a level five or four demon," Sasha said when I didn't say anything.

"You can't tell the difference between a level four and a level five demon?" Ace asked completely surprised.

"There is very little difference between a level four demon and a level five demon. Now if it was a level three demon then you could tell the difference between the two," I said in Sasha's defense.

"I don't understand how you can't tell the difference between the level four and level five demons," he replied.

"Easy, here let me explain the levels. Before a demon gains a level, they are considered baby demons. How they gain levels is anyone's guess at this point in time. Once a baby demon gains a level they are considered at level ten, which is the weakest level there is. The next step up from level ten is level nine the only difference between this level and level ten is that a level nine demon is slightly stronger than a level ten demon. Level eight is when you start to notice the major difference in levels. A demon of this level gains an ability, what the ability will be no one knows, it varies from demon to demon. A level seven demon is slightly stronger than a level eight demon. Now with a level six demon there is a noticeable spike in power. Instead of gaining an extra power they gain two extra powers. Level five and four are so close in power they are very hard to discern from each other. There is only one way to tell the two apart and if you wait until that, you're as good as dead. The difference between the two is when level four demons go into rage mode their eyes turn red, they are the only demon to do this when they go into rage mode. Level three is a step up from level four and five not much is noted differently except being stronger. With level two demons there is another spike in power. But not so much as with level one demons. Level one demons are the strongest and the hardest demon to defeat. They are the most powerful demon and it takes at least ten experienced demon hunters to take one down," I said as if I was reading from notes.

"You know a lot about the different levels of demons. I don't remember reading anything that in depth," he replied.

"You wouldn't have. What I just told you is based off of my research on the different levels," I stated.

"Have you ever seen a level one demon?" he asked.

"Yes, I have and I've seen the damage one can cause." I left the moment after I replied to Ace's question. I did not want to dredge up old wounds. As it is I'm going to have to face some of my past tomorrow. The moment I stepped outside my phone vibrated letting me know I got a text message.

 _Hey, figured you'd be done fighting by now. Stephen will be at a place called SPR. Figured you'd know where that is located. He'll be there tomorrow from 1 to 4 p.m._

 _-Argyle_


	5. Chapter 5

I stared after Mai as she darted out of the tea shop. Something wasn't right, Mai had been acting strange throughout the entire conversation. It was like she didn't want to be here, but at the same time she did. Then there was the entire issue between her and Gene.

 _Tattoos? Why would Mai have any tattoos? She said she didn't, but Gene's not a liar. Then again neither is Mai, so it has to be something else._

Turning to her coworker this Argyle fellow I asked, "What was that all about?"

He looked at me as if appraising me before he smiled saying, "None of your business. If Mai wanted you to know she would have told you by now. She obviously doesn't trust you, so now if you'll excuse me I have to get back to work."

I was somewhat shocked at his rude behavior, but I couldn't say much as I too could be rude. I wanted to make him tell me what I wanted to know, but my mother stopped me which irritated me further. Looking at everyone I saw that they were equally confused and frustrated. Did Mai truly not trust us or was Argyle trying to make a jab at us. What did he know that we didn't?

Sighing I turned back to Gene and asked him, "Are you sure they were tattoos?"

He looked surprised that I'd questioned his word. Gene thought about it for a couple of minutes before answering my question. "They looked like tattoos, but they could have been anything. They were an odd design and weren't the typical shade of tattoo ink, they were a greenish shade almost mint green, but not quite."

I nodded in answer glancing over my mother who looked to be in deep thought which was troubling in itself. I went to ask her what was troubling her, but before I could ask she called for that Argyle guy.

He came back and said, "Is everything all right ma'am?"

My mother smiled and said, "Yes, everything is fine. I just had a question for you that I'd like you to answer and I want you to be completely honest."

He looked wary, but answered with all right before my mother continued. "The person you mentioned to Miss Taniyama. Stephen, his last name wouldn't happen to be Summers, would it?"

Argyle looked floored the moment my mother asked that question, but to be honest it surprised the hell out of me at hearing the possibility that Cousin Stephen wanted to meet with Mai. It worried me.

 _Why would Cousin Stephen want meet with Mai?_

 **Noll.** Gene said through telepathic communication.

 **What?**

 **Why would Cousin Stephen want to talk to Mai?**

 **I don't know. It could be for any reason when it comes to him. It might not even be our cousin.** I thought as I cut our connection so I could pay attention to Argyle's answer.

"It is, how did you know that? No one was supposed to say what his last name was. I know I didn't say anything other than his first name and Mai does not like him so I know she wouldn't say anything," he said looking perplexed. I don't know if he realized he was babbling.

My mother being the woman she is gave him a motherly smile. Most people would feel comforted by that smile, but Gene and I knew better. That smile motherly it may be, but it meant trouble for everyone involved and sometimes those who aren't involved. "Stephen is my nephew. I want to know what he wants with Miss Taniyama and you're going to tell me."

Argyle paled and gulped before saying, "I-I'm sorry I can't tell you. I know nothing of why Stephen wants to see Mai for. Even if I did know I wouldn't tell you anything. I've finally earned Mai's respect and I don't plan to blow that trust by saying anything to people I don't know or even if I knew you. After all, how do I know you know Stephen. If you want to know anything you'll have to ask Mai yourself."

It was odd that he wanted Mai's trust more than anything. Argyle made it seem like she was very important. Well she was important to a lot of people, but he didn't seem like the type of person she normally hung out with. Then again, I hadn't expected her to have graduated at seventeen and could have graduated at sixteen.

My mother narrowed her eyes at Argyle and said, "Young man, I can make your life miserable. I want to know what my nephew wants with the young lady that was just in here."

Argyle looked at mother and something seemed to change in his attitude as he replied through gritted teeth, "I told you once already. I know nothing and if I did I wouldn't tell you anything. I don't know you all. For all I know you lot could be working with the anti-council."

Mother and father both looked at each other. They looked confused and so did everyone else. Even I was slightly confused as to what this anti-council was. "Anti-Council?" Gene asked in a questioning voice, but it was too late Argyle had left without waiting to see if anyone of us spoke.

"We'll see Stephen tonight. We can ask him about it then," Madoka said calmly.

The rest of the gang looked skeptical and I felt just as skeptical as they looked. The only ones that looked hopeful were mother and Gene. Father and Lin looked as if they were debating whether or not they should be hopeful. I was definitely skeptical because when it came to important things Cousin Stephen was never around when you needed him the most.

"We'll see if he's even at the apartment," I said sounding as doubtful as I felt.

Madoka rolled her eyes while Gene gave me a questioning glance. I sighed and decided to ignore them both. Turning to everyone else I said, "Since everyone has agreed to come back to work for SPR could you all come in tomorrow around two o'clock? I need to update the information I have on file from the last time I worked with you all. I will also need times of when you're all available so I can create a work schedule."

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement saying that they'd be in sometime around ten o'clock. Madoka looked like she wanted to ask something, but she never opened her mouth. Lin did ask a question though, "What about Taniyama-san? Shouldn't we wait until we get an answer from her? She never did give us one as she had an appointment to make."

He brought up a good point and I didn't know if I wanted to know her answer to my question. Mai was the only person I was completely nervous about hearing the answer from. She's the only one I truly wanted to say that they would come back and work for me again. I know I was a complete ass with my round about rejection of her feelings, but I have come to realize that she means the whole world to me, and I would do anything to protect her. Part of the reason I came back was to convince Mai that I return her feelings from three years ago and if she didn't feel the same way, I planned to change her mind and make her fall in love with me again.

It took both Gene and Lin to convince me that Mai wasn't in love with Gene, but me. Once I realized this I felt like a huge ass. I wonder if I'll ever be able to apologize. "No, we'll more than likely see her again and soon, especially if she's meeting Stephen," I said in reply.

Lin nodded and said nothing else. The rest of the gang looked at me questioningly, but I refused to expand on what I had said. Mother thought we had talked about work long enough as she changed the subject. Everyone decided to talk for an hour on mundane things much to my irritation. I could have been doing more useful things than listening to them complain about life. I didn't need to catch up with them as I was not a major part of their lives like Mai was.

 **Noll there is no need to look so glum. You don't need to be back at the apartment doing work. You work too much as it is, live a little and open up to everyone here. Oh, wait I know why you're not happy and focusing on work, it's because Mai isn't here.** Gene said speaking through our connection once more.

I didn't bother replying as I did not want to egg him on. When everyone started to finish their conversations saying that they would see us tomorrow I sighed in relief. Now all we needed to do was get home so I could question Stephen about him wanting to meet with Mai.

Paying for our orders we headed outside and towards Gene and mine's apartment complex. We had to pass the main park to get to the complex which I was grateful for as I had felt something on our way the tea shop. I wasn't sure what it was exactly as I only felt it for a moment before it vanished, whatever it was; it was definitely paranormal. On our way by the park I didn't feel anything not even a residual residue of whatever it was.

"When we passed this park on the way to the tea shop did any of you feel anything paranormal going on?" I asked hoping that I wasn't hallucinating because I'd been overworking myself.

Gene grinned at me as if in victory before stating, "It looks like I won the bet. Madoka and father it looks like you owe me twenty bucks each."

I could feel my left eye twitch at hearing that they took bets to see if I would say anything about the park. "You took bets to see if I would say anything about feeling any paranormal activity?"

Madoka and father looked at me with a sheepish grin. Mother looked amused while Lin just shrugged scanning the area before saying, "I don't feel anything and I don't see anything out of the ordinary, but I had definitely felt something when we passed it earlier."

"I know that's what I'm wondering about. I don't even feel the residual residue of anything paranormal so whatever it was didn't leave the surrounding area and there is no way for it to hide its signature from us. I want to know what happened to it."

Gene looked at the entrance of the park and apparently saw something as he started to walk towards the entrance. We followed him until we got near the park equipment for children. At first, I thought he was going to the equipment, but he stopped in the middle of the basketball court.

"This is where the spiritual trail ends, at least the one I picked up ends here," he said turning to face us.

"How did you find a spiritual trail, Gene, when I couldn't?" Lin asked which was a good question that I wanted to know the answer to because a spiritual trail meant that it was a ghost.

Gene blinked at Lin confused and looked around before replying, "What do you mean you couldn't find a trail? I thought you were just saying that so Noll wouldn't get side tracked into whatever was going on here. You really can't see the green aura floating around?"

Lin surveyed the area again before shaking his head. "No, I don't see anything. I haven't checked to see if my shiki see or sense anything."

Lin gave a shrill whistle summoning his shikigami. Lin's shiki flew around the park in streaks of white before one by one the materialized into their human forms. Lin had a total of four shiki for now, he tends to capture new ones that are temporary.

Naoki was Lin's oldest shiki and was at one time a demon. He had silver hair that was spiked with eyes the same shade as his hair. He was as tall as Lin was and had piercings in each ear. As far as I knew Naoki wasn't someone you messed with, but other than that not much is none.

Lin's second oldest shiki was Daisuke. Daisuke had flaming red hair that reminded me of Ayako's hair, but he has Monk's mentality. He was laid back where as Naoki was uptight and by the book, worse than I am. The only way you know Daisuke is upset is when his blue eyes turn red. Daisuke is around my height and is always eager to aggravate Naoki.

Haruka the third oldest of the four and in my opinion, was the wisest out of them all. She may be third oldest of Lin's shiki, but actual age wise I think she's the oldest out of the group. She has blonde hair paired with a caramel coloring for eyes. She was tall and slender. She's often cool headed and doesn't lose her cool often, but when she does she is a force to reckon with.

Saki the newest member of Lin's shiki was around the same height as Miss Hara and Mai. She had strawberry blonde hair and iridescent green eyes. I don't know much about her and was afraid to find out much. Every time she's in her human form she gives me these flirtatious grins. Quite frankly she scared me.

"There was a demon in this park, though it is gone now," Naoki said giving a slight bow to Lin.

Lin nodded before asking, "Did this demon leave?"

Naoki looked around and shook his head before saying, "No, there was a demon hunter here and they took out the demon, which is shocking."

"Why is it shocking that a demon hunter is doing their job?" I asked eyebrow raised. Naoki looked at me and blinked. Out of all of them I could relate to Naoki the most.

"I forget you all don't know how demon hunters work. Demon hunters usually hunt in groups, it's safer that way. There was only one demon hunter that fought and killed this demon and this wasn't any ordinary demon it was a level four demon. I can say that another demon hunter showed up, but after the fight was over."

"How is it unusual that a demon hunter fought the demon on their own?" Gene asked before adding, "I know you said they hunt in groups, but so do ghost hunter and that doesn't stop a lot of them from hunting ghosts on their own."

Haruka took over explaining this time because she knew that I was the only one that Naoki tolerated asking him questions. "Demons are very different from ghosts. They are more deadly to begin with and they can take out a lone demon hunter if that hunter is not careful. It is unusual for a demon to take down a hunter, but like demon hunters there is usually more than one demon inhabiting a place. It is unusual that there was only one demon in this location. The only demon hunter I can recall hunting alone and being able to fend off more than one demon at a time is the Celtic Demon. I never caught what her real name was, but last, I knew she was in Scotland where the demon hunter society's headquarters is located."

Naoki nodded in agreement, but didn't add anything to Haruka's story. Lin looked around said a couple of words that I didn't catch and snapped his fingers. A light green mist swirled until a picture of a person was in front of them. The person was Mai and she had a slash across her face starting from her left ear and across her temple. She was standing in a fighter's pose as if she was waiting to be attacked.

"Naoki is the person you saw kill the demon?" Lin asked.

Naoki shook his eyeing Mai as if he knew her and said, "I wasn't able to see the battle. Whoever fought and killed the demon covered their tracks enough to where I couldn't see the battle. They even got rid of any blood that could have been used to identify them. The only reason I could tell there was a demon is because there is a faint residue that the demon left behind that the hunters couldn't get rid of."

"Thank you that will be all," Lin said and each shiki faded back into their ghostly form, but not before Saki winked at me.

"Well that was unusual. Do you think that was really Mai in the vision Lin brought up?" Madoka asked.

I looked back at the court as we left the park and said, "I don't know."

When we got back to the apartment there was a note from Stephen stuck to the door.

 _I had something come up and need to take care of it. I won't be back tonight; I'll see you in the office tomorrow at 1:00._

 _~Stephen_

"Looks like we'll have to wait till tomorrow to ask what Stephen wants with Mai," Gene said.


	6. Chapter 6

**Mai's POV**

* * *

Pocketing the phone, I glanced around making sure that no one I knew was in the area as I headed towards my home. I got halfway down the street when I saw a figure walking down the opposite side of the street. As the figure came closer I saw that it was Stephen which caused me to have a momentary moment of panic. I knew without a doubt that if Stephen saw me that I'd have to deal with whatever issue he was wanting to talk about with me.

I had a general idea of what Stephen wanted to talk to me about then I definitely didn't want to deal with it right now. I really didn't want to talk about it in front of any new demon hunters or anyone who has expectations of me. Speeding up I undid my hair and let it fall blocking half my face from sight.

I was nervous to the point of being distracted and I wasn't paying attention to what was in front of me. I ended up running into someone hard enough that I fell to the ground which caused me to be embarrassed. I couldn't believe I was caught off guard enough to be knocked down after all I was supposed to be the best of all demon hunters. Looking at the other person, who'd I'd also knocked down, I apologized.

Looking at the other person I saw that the person was a male who was maybe a couple years older than myself, which made him to be around twenty-one. He was as tall as Naru with white blonde hair and the brightest green eyes I'd ever seen. The man was wearing a white muscle shirt that said mess with me and you'll regret it with tan khaki cargo pants. He was obviously a foreigner, but what made me do a double take was the fact that he was also born demon hunter. He wasn't want one of the unofficial Japanese demon hunters.

I wasn't sure if he was a rouge or not, but one thing I did figure out was that he'd been following Stephen. He glared at me when he realized that Stephen was too far away to catch up to without drawing suspicion. I assumed that his glare was supposed to intimidate me, but with everything I've been through on top of dealing with Naru's glares, which I will be the first to admit were scary, his glare did nothing other than irritate me.

"Watch it," he said in English, a German accent accompanying his voice.

I narrowed my eyes and replied back in English allowing my Scottish accent to show, "I donna know if ye understood me the first time or no', but I did say I was sorry fer bumpin in ta ye."

At this his eyes widened as he gave me a once over. His scrutiny of me wasn't unnerving which was unusual for me, but then again, he wasn't eyeing me like I was a piece of meat. He seemed interested in me on a curious level instead of a I want to take you to bed level. I wasn't offended at all because I knew he was probably wondering why I had a Scottish accent when I didn't look Scottish.

"You're not Japanese, are you?" he asked.

"Half," I replied dropping my accent. "There's a coffee shop over there. Why don't we go there? We can chat and you can explain why you're spying on Stephen Summers," I added pointing to the coffee shop across the street.

I had guessed correctly that he was spying on Stephen as his face became considerably pale and his eyes widened. He then became embarrassed as his cheeks reddened a bit. I kind of felt bad for him since he obviously didn't recognize who I was and wouldn't know that I am very perceptive, I can ferret out any information if the mood strikes me.

"Very well," he said following me to the coffee shop.

Once seated coffee in hand he looked at me asked, "How did you know I was following Stephen Summers?"

I smiled at him and said, "First off I would like to know your name."

He blinked then blushed, "Sorry my name is Victor Geller and you are?"

"Ah so you are indeed German. I am Mai Taniyama," I said in reply earning an astonished look from Victor.

"Mai Taniyama as in the infamous Celtic Demon?" he asked astonished before blushing.

I blinked in response. It had been a long time since I'd heard someone call me by that nick name. I received that nick name from a demon that I didn't kill as he had done nothing to receive death at the time. Ever since then both demons and demon hunters have called me that which is ironic since I'm a demon hunter.

"People still call me that? I would have figured that, that nick name would have died down after five years of not being a part of the council."

He blinked before saying, "Why would it die when you're a legend? Everyone talks of your feats especially of the battle between you and Desi. Is it true that you defeated Desi with your bare hands and didn't use any weapons?"

It was my turn to blink. I had never thought that people would continue to talk about what I had done when I was a part of the council. It was unusual and somewhat flattering. Normally if a person were to leave the council they would be labeled a rogue and promptly forgotten. This made me wonder if the council still considered me a member or if I was labeled a rogue.

"What does the council have me labeled as?" I asked needing to know.

"What do you mean?" Victor asked.

"Last I knew I was no longer a part of the council which means I should be labeled as a rogue," I said with a ring any bells kind of attitude.

"That's weird the council members have told us that you vanished and had no idea where you were. They played it off as that you're still a part of the council, but had gone MIA. I know some of the demon hunters don't believe that you exist. They say you're nothing, but a myth to motivate hunters into doing their best. As for myself I wasn't sure if you existed or not, I'd talked with those who claimed to have personally known you, but when I asked about where you were they clammed up so fast that I believed they were lying," he said in reply.

Hearing this caused me to raise an eyebrow in surprise. "The person you're talking about is Mathe isn't it."

"Yes, it was. How did you know?" he asked.

"I have my ways. So now why don't you explain as to why you were tailing Stephen," I said directing the subject back to what we were originally talking about.

"Ah that would be because the council asked me to spy on him. They believe he is trying to set up his own demon hunter's council or that he is plotting with rogue demon hunters on a way to over throw them," he said looking appalled that anyone could associate with a rogue demon hunter.

It interested me that the council would care. If they cared it meant that they viewed Stephen as a threat. If that was the case, then I definitely wanted to hear what he had to say.

Looking at Victor I saw that he was looking at me expectantly as if I should be agreeing to something. "Victor you do know that it isn't against the rules to talk to rogue demon hunters, right?"

"What do you mean? Of course, it is against the rules," he said sounding so certain that it was.

I gave a small laugh at him. He had no idea about the rules and what some of them meant. "Can you tell me what rule says that you cannot associate with rogues? When you were being trained did the council or one of the council's lackeys tell you this?" I asked.

"I… don't what rule it is, but Nathaniel was the one who told me that it was a rule," he said looking uncertain when he was speaking.

I smiled and then asked, "How well do you know the rule book? Have you even read it?"

He looked at me blushed and then looked away. "I skimmed through the rule book, but have not fully read it."

"I gathered that. I will tell you this, it is wise to know the rule book inside out as it allows you to do things that the council frowns upon, but they cannot punish you as it was not against the rules. Not associating with rogues is a spoken rule not a written rule. The council cannot make it a written rule as it would contradict another written rule. The rule that prevents them from making a written rule to prevent association with rogues can't be taken away. If they did take that rule away they'd have to re-write the entire rulebook. They know that they can't re-write the rulebook because it would cause a revolt amongst the demon hunters. There are reasons why we have a rule book and a code. I can guarantee you that the council knows it inside and out," I told him trying to make sure that he understood the importance of knowing the rules.

He looked at me and took a few minutes trying to figure out what he was going to say. He was deep in thought and I didn't mind as I wanted to hear what he was going to say or ask. "You say that knowing the rules are important, but I don't get why it's important."

"I see, then let me explain. There is a rule that say you don't have to kill every demon you come into contact with, but there is also another rule that says you must kill every demon that intends to harm the innocent. Those two rules go hand in hand, but there are also other rules that affect these two such as the rule that says you must know how to tell what a demon's aura is. By knowing a demon's aura, you can tell whether or not the demon needs to be killed. I can honestly say that I have used these rules against the council. There were times where the council had tried to claim that I was traitor by not killing a demon, but since I knew the demon was not evil yet I could prove that I was not going against the rules," I said explaining this as much as I could without confusing him.

"I see, but why would the council try to convict you as a traitor when you're the best demon hunter there is?" he asked.

"Ah the question of the decade. The council isn't as good as you think it is. Several corrupt hunters currently reside on the council and they don't care who the step on in order to gain more power. Haven't you ever noticed that out standing hunters are mysteriously killed or they've been tried as traitors and are forced either to die or become rogues? These hunters at one time or another have disagreed with the council. The council members won't do the killing themselves, but it is easy for them to set up the downfall of a hunter. This was one of the main reasons I left.

Before my parents' death they both held a seat on the council. One was to go to my older brother while the other was supposed to go to my older sister. My brother is holding his seat and my sister was killed before she could take her seat. Following her death, I was supposed to take her place, but I was only ten at the time. The council was going to take the seat away from me, but I irritated them by reciting a rule."

"What rule?" Victor asked as he tilted his to the left.

"If the person who is to take a council seat is not of the age of twenty-one they can't succeed the seat, but they are allowed to have a temporary placement until they are of age. I have my other brother holding my seat until I am of age. As a result, a majority of the council has been trying to get me branded as a traitor, but knowing the rule book as well as I do has saved me from that fate. Also, it's been near impossible for them to do anything to me without drawing suspicion on themselves ever since I defeated Desi. This allowed me the opportunity to leave which started the age of rogues.

I highly suggest that before you jump head first into doing something for the council that you thoroughly examine the situation and the job they're having you do. The council views rogues as a threat because they could take away their power if they so desired, but don't get true rogues mixed up with falsely accused ones. To be completely honest with you and I am not saying this to boost my own ego, but I am possibly the only person the council fears the most because if I were to start my own demon hunter's society about 95% of the current council will leave to follow me," I stated telling him part of the reason I was not amongst the society.

He was silent through the entire story which was nice as most people would interrupt me half way through. He didn't say anything until the very end, "So let me get this straight the council is corrupt and Stephen knows this and is trying to find you?"

"That is a correct brief summary. Stephen has been trying to convince me to start my own society ever since I left. I had successfully been able to avoid him until recently. He somehow has found out my location which only two people should have known about," I said in reply.

"I have a question what is the difference between an accused rogue and a true rogue? And if your brothers are on the council does that mean they are corrupt too?" he asked looking puzzled.

I smiled took a sip of my coffee and said, "To answer your first question a true rogue demon hunter basically becomes something similar to a demon. They have no regards in who they kill innocent or guilty. They don't just kill demons either they also kill other hunters or non-hunters. In regard to your second question no my brothers are not corrupt. There are more corrupt council members than good ones so there is no balance and the good members are constantly trying to fix or make right what the corrupt ones do."

"I see, well thank you for talking with me. I definitely have a lot to think about and much to read on," he said with a small smile before leaving.

 _I have a feeling my life is just about to get more interesting._


	7. Chapter 7

**Naru's POV**

* * *

It was unusual for me, but I was finding it difficult to focus on work, all I could think about was what Cousin Stephen could possibly want with Mai. Though where Mai is concerned I always get distracted. I've gone over all conversations I've had with Mai and ones that she's had with others in the past and can't come up with a reason for why Stephen would want to meet with her. Then there was the problem with Mai and Gene. Gene never lies, but neither did Mai. I'd researched last night for the possibility of markings that looked like tattoos, but came up empty handed which was irritating as I always had something to go off of.

Looking up I saw that mother, Madoka, and Gene were talking on one of the couches in the lounge area, they didn't seem to be all that concerned over the meeting while Lin, father, and I were. Once more checking on what time it was I realized that I'd just checked it ten minutes ago it seemed as if one o'clock would never get here. I sighed I was being ridiculous time wouldn't speed up even if I willed it to be so, it was irrational for me to continue to look up every ten minutes or so.

It was close to being time for the gang to be arriving and I wasn't sure if I wanted them here when Stephen was going to be here. They'd never met anyone in my family the entire time I was here until Gene was found and only then it was my parents. Stephen's a demon hunter of fifteen years now and he'd had no idea I was here in Japan for two years so he couldn't come bug me or have met Mai in during that time. He also couldn't have met her during the three years I was gone since he was pestering Gene and myself. There should be no way of Stephen knowing about Mai let alone wanting to meet her.

Glancing up as the door opened I saw the gang start to come in. Everyone sighed in disappointment when no one else came through the door with them. I'd changed the office quite a bit by making the entire greeting space bigger. I had more furniture brought in so if the entire team was here and we had a prospective case there'd be room for everyone.

Masako immediately came over and sat by Gene and myself much to our dislike, well to my dislike. I didn't know if Gene still liked her or not, but I didn't appreciate her invading my personal space. Monk and Ayako went to set next Madoka and my mother, while John and Yasu went and sat opposite of Ayako and Monk.

Monk looked at me and asked, "So what is the agenda for today boss?"

I looked up from the case file that I had been trying to read glaring at the Monk for his stupidity. "I will be going over the case file I have received. I plan on accepting this case so I need you all to be quiet and pay attention."

Looking back at the clock I saw that it was half an hour till one o'clock. Those who noticed me hesitate looked at the clock also. I saw some grimaces of anticipation, while others wore blank looks. My mother looked closely at me trying to guess my mood or reaction I wasn't sure which.

"Noll, why don't we wait a bit before going over the case. Stephen isn't here yet and it would be rude to start without him," she said with a small smile on her face.

My father kept his face perfectly blank knowing how much I dislike showing emotion. I nodded my consent and went back to reading the case file able to focus more now that I wish to ignore what is going on around me. Gene was trying to connect with me telepathically no doubt to nag me about ignoring everyone.

Before anyone could say anything Naoki, Daisuke, Haruka, and Saki appeared in their human forms. Naoki seemed unhappy about something which was unusual as he did not show emotions often. Daisuke also was acting unusual with a serious face. Haruka looked thoughtful while Saki was smiling as she sauntered over to sit on the arm of the couch I was on.

"What's the matter?" Lin asked wondering what could have happened.

Naoki scanned the room before sighing and saying, "Two demon hunters are nearby and neither one is Stephen. One of the hunters was at the park last night the other is someone I've never sensed before."

We all paused in silence before we saw the door open and three of Lin's shiki tense preparing for a fight. The door opened to reveal Mai and another girl. Mai was dressed in a white tank top that stopped just above her belly button with black shorts ending just above her knees and black combat boots. The girl that was with her was about the same height and age as Mai and had white blonde hair and sea green eyes. They both came in and Mai looked at Naoki giving him a smirk.

"I haven't seen you in a while Naoki," she said sounding bored.

"Mai, he's a demon. Why haven't you killed him yet?" the girl next to Mai asked causing Lin and all of his shiki to be on alert in case she attacked.

"Relax Lia. Naoki cannot harm us against Mr. Koujo's will. Even if he does allow Naoki to attack, Naoki knows better than to attack me. Isn't that right Naoki? After all you do remember what happened to your group of friends eight years ago," Mai said sounding all too happy about Naoki's situation which was odd coming from Mai.

Naoki narrowed his eyes at the two of them before saying, "Of course I do and I agree it has been a while since I last encountered you, Celtic Demon."

Haruka gasped looking at Mai with shock on her face, " _You're_ the Celtic Demon? To be honest I expected someone who was taller and looked scarier. After all every demon that knows of you cowers in fear."

I saw Mai's eye twitch in annoyance before she smiled. They seemed warm, but her eyes were completely blank making her smile cold, more so than my own. I wasn't the only one shocked as Naoki stiffened and took a step back he had a warry look on his face, everyone else gave a slight gasp.

"Damn it Mai. You know I hate it when you use your demon hunter's smile when it isn't concerning a demon," the girl next to Mai, I believe Mai called her Lia, said as she walked fully into the room shutting the door behind her. The girl was obviously Russian with how she accented certain words. "So where is the dumb ass anyways? You said he wanted to talk with you."

Mai gave Haruka a hard stare before continuing into the room, Lia following, before she stopped by Naoki. "It's been a while since we last battled and I can tell that you're still very angry over the fact that I won, but get over it. You should know by now that I do not kill daemons that don't deserve ta die. I'm not like most of the council, I don't kill innocents," she said in English with a Scottish brogue.

Naoki scowled at her before speaking, "No one should be as strong as you are when out of their hunter form."

Mai gave a smile and this time it reached her eyes. "Sorry, but when a person truly wishes to survive they will do whatever it takes to continue living even if that means growing strong enough that everyone fears them. Plus, you should blame me parents for me strength."

"Isn't that lonely though? If everyone feared you, then no one would want to be around you." This came from Daisuke causing everyone, that knew him well, look at him askew. "What?" he asked when he noticed everyone's looks.

"It's not as lonely as you think. More times than not you find people of like minds and if people fear you to the point of avoiding you then they are not the kind of people you want to hang around," Lia said as she came up to stand by Mai's side. "Yes, sometimes fear helps a person know who not to hang around, but sometimes it's that fear that helps people to stick together and stay alive. Fear does a lot for people, it's deciphering the different types of fear that is the hardest."

"Lia's right. Before anything more is said, yes, I am the Celtic Demon the strongest demon hunter alive. It was a name given to me by a demon I had allowed to live as he had done nothing to deserve to die," Mai said as she leaned against the arm of the couch Ayako was sitting on.

"So, what do the tattoos on your shoulders mean?" Gene asked.

"They're not tattoos. The markings on Mai's shoulders signify her rank so to speak. Mai is a born demon hunter with pure bloodlines. I too have markings on my shoulders signifying that I am a born demon hunter with one parent not being born a demon hunter."

"Oh, so they're like birth marks?" Madoka asked.

"Sort of. Some get the mark through birth others earn the right to have the mark," Mai said in reply.

"I hate to be rude, but who is the pretty girl next to you?" Yasu asked.

The girl laughed before saying, "I'm sorry for not introducing myself sooner. My name is Malia Khalid and I am a friend of Mai's. We've worked together on several different assignments."

Mai smiled before saying, "Yeah and she is one of few who can actually stand being around me without being totally annoying. By the way it's almost one and Stephen isn't here yet, is everything all right?"

Just as I was going to say that I had no clue where that idiot cousin of mine was the door flew open. Stephen strode in and once he saw Mai he grinned like an idiot, but then he saw Malia and lost the grin.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.


	8. Chapter 8

**Mai's POV**

* * *

When I woke this morning, Victor was the first person I thought of. Yesterday he seemed indecisive on what to believe and I hoped the he'd believed me with what I'd told him. Maybe he'll be more careful where the council is concerned. I sighed I knew that I can't protect everyone from the council, but I can warn people about them.

Running into Malia was a fun surprise and I figured she was here with Victor to spy on Stephen. She confirmed this when I said I was going to meet up with Stephen at one.

Arriving at SPR and not finding Stephen already there was a little irritating, but there was nothing I could do but wait. Talking with everyone and seeing Naoki again was fun.

I gave a faint smile as I heard the anger in Stephen's voice. I knew he didn't like Malia as we had very similar views and apparently, he'd stated that he could only stand one of me, plus she did something that pissed him off to the point he can't stand being anywhere near her. Looking at Malia I saw that she was smirking. The woman knew that she irritated the man and enjoyed it which was one of the reasons that I liked her. It didn't hurt that she was a kick as demon hunter on top of not being someone who made excuses for anything she did.

"I am here at the request of Mai, plus, I knew it would piss you off," she said as she went to sit next to Yasu with me following her, but instead of sitting down I leaned against the arm of the couch.

"I didn't request to speak with you! I wanted to speak to Mai alone!" Stephen replied with venom in his voice.

"Hmm, there are several other people in this room which makes it kinda impossible to speak with Mai alone dontcha think?" Malia retorted obviously trying to goad him into an argument.

"Malia, that's enough. Stephen, she is staying so get over whatever prejudice you have of her and start talking about what you want from me," I said ending the fight before it began. Malia gave me a devious smile, but said nothing.

Stephen had a scowl on his face. "What I wanted to talk to you about was to see if you would start a demon hunter society of your own here in Japan…."

I stopped him before he went on any further, "No, absolutely not! I want no part in this crazy scheme of yours."

"Now hang on Mai. Don't discredit his idea before you've heard everything. To be honest he has piqued my interest and you know how hard that is," Lia said before Stephen could argue with me.

I sighed before saying, "Go on."

Stephen smiled in appreciation which probably cost him some of his pride. "Well, the situation in Scotland has apparently gotten progressively worse since you left. Listening to the older hunters you challenged the council as often as you could and that the council hated you with a passion as you knew the laws of the society to a t. More and more of the older hunters are disappearing without a trace. No one knows where they're going or if they're even alive. The newer members don't question anything they're being told and just take commands as they are."

This alarmed me as my brothers were a part of the older hunters and the council. "Are my brothers okay? They aren't part of those who have disappeared?" I asked terrified to hear the answer.

Everyone looked taken aback at my questions, even Lin's shiki were surprised, but I didn't care, I'd already lost to much. I couldn't stand the thought of losing my brothers too, plus, we couldn't afford to lose any onishi demon hunters. Lia looked tense as she was probably thinking the same thing.

"What? No, they're fine in fact they seem to be the council's favorite demon hunters as they get most of the job requests that the council receive. Plus, with them being a part of the council it would be hard for them to disappear without raising any suspicion," Stephen said in reply.

An icy chill went down my spine as Lia and I shared a look of concern. I said, "Lia you need to contact Orion. We need to get Ryoichi and Jared out of there and any others like us. This situation has gotten more serious than we originally thought."

Malia nodded before saying, "I agree and I think Orion would agree too. I think we should mention starting an official society to Orion. It's time to let the council know that we still exist and that we'll fight back. You of all people know how dangerous that council is, especially with some of their contacts."

"Wait, so Jou-chan is a demon hunter? How come we're just now finding out?'' Monk asked after Malian had finished talking.

I knew everyone I worked with would be shocked at what had been revealed, but there was nothing I could do about it. I know I should have said something at the very beginning of working with them, but honestly, I didn't want the questions. There are just somethings better left in the past.

"You're just catching onto this?!" Ayako screeched as she hit Monk upside the head with her purse.

"Ow you old hag that's not what I meant. What I was asking was if Mai was a demon hunter or a ghost hunter, which is she working for?" he said in reply.

I had completely forgotten about being asked to come back to work for SPR and to be honest I'd love to go back to working for them, but the risk of having a demon hunter is too great a risk.

I didn't reply and noticed that everyone was staring at me waiting for my answer. I gave them a small smile before saying, "I would love to come back and work with everyone, but I can't. My presence is too great of a risk to you all."

Stephen nodded his head before saying, "Mai is correct it is too dangerous for her to be around you all, now that you know what she is. It'll be safer for her and for you guys if she works as solely."

Naru narrowed his eyes at Stephen. "Why?"

Stephen didn't get the chance to answer Naru's question as Naoki spoke up. "If the Celtic Demon stays with you all it would draw the attention of many demons."

I rolled my eyes at how Naoki explained the dangers of having a demon hunter on the team. Monk's eyebrows came down over his eyes. I could tell that he was confused as were the rest minus Lin, Stephen, and Malia.

"I don't see what the problem is. So, what if Mai draws the attention of demons?"

Instead of letting anyone else explain I spoke up. "The reason is the stronger the demon hunter the more demons they attract and the demons that are generally attracted are of the higher levels. There's a saying amongst the demon hunters once a demon hunter always a demon hunter born a demon hunter die a demon hunter."

Stephen spoke up shortly after I finished speaking. "I never understood that saying."

Malia gave him a condescending look before saying, "Really, what's there not to understand. When you're not born a demon hunter and you become one you're a demon hunter till you even if you retire. If you're born a demon hunter there is no retiring."

"I'm sorry, but I must be slow because I still don't understand the saying," John said with an apologetic smile.

I smiled in return and said, "John what it means is that anyone who is not born into the profession can retire, but they may be called upon either to give their insight or help in a particular case. Those who are born into this job don't get to retire because they're typically killed before they reach their fortieth birthday. The oldest demon hunter I know of lived to be fifty years old. Demons tend to kill us hunters at any chance they can get."

"Oh," was John's reply and by the looks of it several people were not happy with that answer.

Stephen's eyes knit together. "Wait so what you're saying is that I'll be able to retire, but you won't be able to make it past the age of forty. That's just wrong. Wouldn't your family lineage negate that issue or what not? I mean you are like what the fiftieth generation of demon hunters."

I could have killed him at that moment in time. I didn't even know that he knew how many generations there were in my family, not even Malia knew that information. Glancing at Malia I could tell that she was upset about him knowing and not her. It's not that I didn't trust her it was just that I didn't trust anyone with that information.

"That is somewhat correct on what generation I am and no I'm not telling you the exact number. I don't know how you got that information, but whoever told you should have known better. And to answer your question no it doesn't make a difference, if anything it makes me more of a target."

He just shrugged his shoulders and looked away. Everyone else looked upset even Malia looked uncomfortable which was unusual. There wasn't anything I could do to alleviate their fears or concerns.

"Why didn't you tell us when we worked together," Yasu asked looking somewhat hurt.

I was amazed that everyone was taking it so well and didn't react like I expected them too. Then again, they could be to shocked to say anything.

"The less you knew about me being a demon hunter the better for you all."

Naoki added to what I said, "We demons tend to leave those who have no knowledge about demon hunters alone, that is as long as we don't think harming you would've helped us defeat the hunter."

I smiled at everyone's facial expressions at Naoki's monotone voice. I knew some of them would still feel as if I didn't trust them, but I couldn't with that

"It's not that I didn't trust you all it was just easier for you all to think that I was clumsy and a danger magnet, which is somewhat true."

"Mai, I still don't see how this would prevent you from coming back to work for SPR. We deal with dangers on every case we go to, even the ones that are supposed to be simple. Lin may not be a demon hunter, but he knows how to fight against one and I'm sure there are talismans out there that prevent demons from harming us," Madoka said speaking up for the first time since I entered the room. Her small speech received several nods of approval and even some vocal ones.

I sighed running a hand through my hair. I didn't want to start a society and definitely didn't want to reveal what I was. I was about to respond to Madoka saying that I truly did want to work for SPR again when I heard a faint voice in the distance, it was the same one from my dreams. I cocked my head to the side trying to catch what the woman was saying, but it seemed that her voice was getting further away the moment I started to hear it.

"Mai? What's wrong? Mai!" That was the last thing I heard before everything went black and I was thrust into a vision or something along that line.

When I woke up everything was pitch dark with the exception of the will-o'-wisps that surrounded me. Getting up I looked around, there was nothing not even sound.

"Hello?" As I spoke voice seemed to echo back at me.

Nothing, no reply came my way. Picking a random direction, I started walking, the will-o'-wisps following me the entire way. It wasn't long before I started hearing the woman in the distance. Speeding up my pace I soon found myself enveloped in a bright light. When the light faded I realized I was in the underground cave that we used as a meeting place.

Looking around I noticed that all of the furniture that was in the room was gone. I panicked for a second before I realized that I had to be in the room before we took it over. There was a noise at the entrance of the cave causing me to whirl around and face the source of the noise. It was Orion. I sighed in relief when I saw him. I don't know why I was so afraid when I heard a noise as nothing can hurt me in the dream plane.

Orion was in his normal gear of black tank top, cargo shorts, and army boots. Standing at six feet eight inches it was funny to see him decked out in all black with a Wakizashi strapped to each thigh. A Wakizashi sword, which was one of the smallest swords in the world ranging from twelve inches to twenty for inches. Orion's sword was twelve inches which made it funnier to see him wield something so small. I always pictured him the type to wield a halberd or something similar, but then again most don't see me as the type to favor halberds.

Figuring that Orion was going to be doing something important I sat down one of the many natural cave wall shelves. He lifted a brow before he walked towards me. It was as if he could see me which was impossible since I was the only one out of the onishies who could transport onto the dream plane.

"Well if you're getting settled then whatever situation you need to talk about is serious," Orion said as he came to a stop before me.

This caused me to jump and stutter. "Y-you can see me! How is this? I'm on the dream plane. I thought I was the only one who could enter onto the dream plane."

He smiled at me before he sat next to me and said, "Yes, I can see you and no we're not on the dream plane or the spirit plane. We're on the plane in between the mortal world and the demonic world and no, the demonic world is not the same as hell. True demons have their own plane of existence and we onishi demon hunters have a plane in between the dream plane, the demon plane, and the mortal plane. It would seem that neither Ryoichi nor Jared have spoken to you of this."

"No, they have not. Why is it that we have a different plane?" I asked now curious.

As Orion looked at me something flit through his eyes, but whatever it was, was gone before I could identify it. He sighed and said, "Since they didn't tell you about this plane I bet they didn't tell you what we are fully. Where is your body currently?"

His question through me off guard. "I believe it is still at my work in Japan."

"You still working at SPR?"

"Yes," I replied a little wary at where this might be leading to. He looked uncomfortable like something was wrong and he didn't know how to go about fixing it. Orion's head snapped up turning to look in the direction of the cave's entrance.

"All right, then I will see you shortly," he said before mist rose into the cavern overshadowing him.

"Orion?" I called out wondering what he meant by he'd see me soon.

"Orion!" I shouted as the ground gave way from underneath me.


	9. Chapter 9

**All right, all I'm sorry that I'm late. I know I owe you guys a couple of chapters and am working on those. I'm also sorry to say that this chapter is short and has a cliff hanger in it. Hope you enjoy.**

* * *

 **Naru's POV**

* * *

I watched stunned through the entire conversation between Mai, Stephen, and Malia. I never knew that Mai was a demon hunter and by the shocked expressions on everyone else's face I wasn't the only one. What also shocked me was the fact that Mai had siblings who were also demon hunters. The whole issue that Stephen is speaking about sounds grave and by Mai's reaction alone makes it more so.

It wasn't until toward the end of the conversation about talking to some guy named Orion that I noticed Mai was paler than normal and she started to sway.

"Mai? Is everything all right?" I asked beginning to worry when she kept blinking.

Everyone looked to Mai to see what she'd say. Malia had a worried look and put her hand on Mai's shoulder as she started to sway forward all the while saying, "What's wrong? Mai!"

As the last word left her mouth Mai collapsed onto the floor. I walked over picked her up and placed her on an empty couch. Naoki who was the only one that stayed in his human form approached her, but before he got within five feet of her he came to a halt. Frowning he looked towards Malia.

"Is she an onishi demon hunter? Is that why there is a barrier? She has gone to the plane of the onia?"

Malia looked at Naoki before l glancing at everyone before her gaze landed on Mai's prone form. Sighing she ran a hand through her hair before saying, "Yes."

Stephen scowled at her one word answer. "Yes, to what? Everything or just one thing? Be more specific. We need to know details in order to help her."

The look that she gave Stephen was one of torment. I could see that Stephen was surprised by the look and wasn't sure of what to do. By what little I got out of the brief conversation about the woman she didn't often show vulnerability.

"I can't explain further. I don't have that kind of authorization…" She wasn't able to finish her sentence as her phone interrupted her.

Taking it out of her pocket she looked at it she paled slightly and frowned before answering it. "Yes, Orion?"

 **Noll, wasn't Orion the name of the guy Mai was talking about with Malia? Something about letting him know and that he wouldn't be happy.**

 **Yes.** Was my only reply to him. I didn't want to let on that I was concerned that there was someone that Mai looked to it made me wonder if she's moved on from me.

Turning my attention back on Mai's friend I heard her say, "Yes, Mai is out of it…"

"Yes, she's in the realm of the onia… Do you know where this place is located?"

She no more than said those words and a man was standing next to her. The man seemed to be six eight in height with platinum blonde hair and deep green eyes. He wore all black tank top, cargo shorts, and army boots and had some kind of short sword or a very long dagger strapped to each of his thighs. The man looked intimidating.

Malia looked at the man shook her head and said, "Orion, I do but at the same time I don't want to know how you do that."

The man, Orion, gave a half smile and said, "One of these days I'll teach you."

He walked over to where Mai was laying on the couch raised his hand and poked in between her eyes. She twitched her brows, but didn't wake up. Orion frowned before poking her again and saying, "Mai, you need to wake up. It's dangerous to navigate the onia realm without knowing what we are."

Malia gasped, looking over at her I could see that she was shocked.

 _I wonder what he meant by what we are?_

"You mean she doesn't know? Didn't her brothers ever fully explain to her?" she asked face pale and drawn.

Orion shook his head and said, "No, they only partially explained what she is. I suspect they're afraid that she'll end up like her parents or her twin sister."

This statement shocked everyone. It also looked like Malia had no idea of this as she to had a look of utter shock on her face. I was highly surprised that she had a twin and didn't say anything, but then again, she never said anything about having older brothers.

"Wait Mai had a twin sister? How come I didn't know about this? I've known Mai and her brothers for years.

Orion once more looked up and in Malia's direction and said, "Yes, at one-time Mai had a twin sister. I will not go into the details, if you want them you'll have to ask Mai yourself."

I thought I'd known everything there was to know about Mai, but it seems that I was wrong. I'm pretty sure the others were feeling the same. It made me wonder what my parents were thinking about this whole situation.

"Why would Mai's brothers be worried about her safety when she's a big girl that can handle herself. Hell, she's saved their asses on more than one occasion." It was obvious Malia wanted information and she wouldn't be deterred from getting the answers she wanted.

Orion, who was pushing on the side of Mai's face, paused in what he was doing long enough to answer, "Sometimes knowledge is the more dangerous than not knowing. History often repeats itself whether we know it or not. Knowing what happened in the past doesn't always guarantee that it can prevented from happening again."

Malia blinked once, twice before scowling. Stephen like the rest of us was confused with his response. "But knowing and preparing for the inevitable is better than fearing the unknown. I know I'd rather have all the facts before I face anything. Going in blind will more than likely get you killed.

"Not necessarily Mr. Summers, sometimes the knowledge of what is to come can cause a tremendous amount of pressure that can make it difficult for the person to concentrate on what is important. Knowledge is a case by case basis on how it should be dealt with. There are times when knowledge is needed then there are times where it is not necessary. The trick is knowing how to balance and recognize which is needed."

I wasn't sure if it was just myself that felt as if Orion was much older than he appeared or he'd seen a lot. Another thing that caught my attention was that he knew Stephen's last name and from Mai, Malia, and Stephen's earlier conversation Stephen didn't know this man.

Obviously, Stephen caught it right off the bat as he looked stunned and confused as he said, "Wait I don't know you. So how is it that you know my name?"

Orion gave a small smile that didn't reach his eyes and replied, "I know all the demon hunters that walk through the halls of the hunters be they born hunters or made into hunters."

It looked like Stephen was going to question him further when a moan came from Mai. Looking over at her I saw that she'd opened her eyes and was staring at Orion or rather she was half glaring at him. She looked exhausted and upset.

"I want to know what I saw. Is it true?"

He gave her a wary look before saying, "That depends what did you see?"

Mai hesitated as if trying to figure out how she was going to phrase her reply. Looking at me she searched my face for something before turning away.

"Are we truly immortal?"

* * *

 **Please review. My writing thrives on reviews.**


	10. Chapter 10

**All right everyone here's the next chapter. I've been trying to post this for the past couple of days, but have been having trouble. My next chapter may be postponed due to my computer needing to be taken to be fixed. Hope you all enjoy!**

* * *

 **Naru's POV**

* * *

 _Immortal? How can that be? It's impossible for anyone to be immortal._

I waited for Orion to answer Mai's question not daring to throw out a comment. I assumed everyone else was just as curious to hear what Orion had to say, but that was short lived once I saw Stephen's face. He was going to say something stupid and I wasn't sure if I wanted to stop him or hear what he had to say.

Sure, enough he opened his mouth and said, "Immortal? That's impossible, it's utter non-sense. There is no such thing as immortality, everyone knows this. Man has been searching for immortality since the beginning of time."

I Logistically and scientifically I knew Stephen was right, but I'd never say that out loud for I could not discredit the possibility of immortality either. There is so much that goes unexplained every day. Most people don't believe in paranormal activity, that is until it happens to them, even though there is scientific proof of its existence.

Stephen looked to me as if I should be saying something to add to his rant. I wasn't going to say anything because I wasn't one hundred percent sure if he was right or wrong. I don't make unfounded remarks besides I was too curious as to what Orion had to say.

Seeing that I wasn't going to back him up Stephen glared at me before saying, "Right Noll?"

I raised an eyebrow at him before saying, "I'm not making an unfounded remark. There is not enough evidence to prove or disprove the existence of immortality. Unexplained things/events happen daily whether we're aware of it or not. There for it'd be pointless for me to make an educated guess."

My remark seemed to shock everyone except for Mai, Malia, Orion, Lin, Gene, Madoka, and my parents. Lin, Gene, Madoka, and my parents know that I don't like to make assumptions without all of the facts. I was slightly surprised that Mai wasn't the least bit surprised over my comment. Stephen was probably the most surprised out of everyone, but I didn't care.

Ignoring the shocked faces of almost everyone I turned to look back at Orion to see if he'd answer Mai or not. He seemed to be having an internal debate. It caused me to smile on the inside as I could remember Mai being the cause of more than one internal debate.

"Before I answer that question could you tell me what kept you from rejoining us in the waking world?"

Mai blinked at him seeming to hesitate answering him before saying, "It's a little fuzzy, but I know it'd be better to start from the very beginning. Several months ago I started having these dreams where I'm in a pitch black room. In this room I hear someone pleading for help. The voice is familiar and I know that I know who it is, but only as long as I'm in the dream, though the moment I wake up it's nothing, but a distant memory. When I'm done dreaming I wake up in a cold sweat; irrational fear is gripping me."

Orion's face closed off for a moment before he asked, "Have you ever tried asking the person what they need help with? Is the person female or male?"

Mai looked confused at the question. Frowning in concentration Mai said, "I have asked what the person needed, but they never answer. As to what gender the person is I'm not sure."

Orion nodded before asking another question, "What does the person say?"

"The person says…the person says…I…I don't remember."

Orion nodded once more before motioning for Mai to continue her story.

"Today Malia and I were talking with Stephen about the Demon Hunters' Society Council. Oh, by the way it sounds as if we'll need to come out of hiding. Well, towards the end of the conversation I started to hear the voice again. It was quiet at first so I discredited it to my over active imagination, but then it started to get louder to the point that I couldn't bear to hear it anymore. The next thing I knew I blacked out and awoke to the same place as my dreams. Only this time the person wasn't there."

Orion grabbed his chin as if in deep thought. Mai hesitated to see if he'd say anything, but when he didn't she continued.

"There was nothing there except the will-o'-wisps. I picked a random direction and the will-o'-wisps followed me. It wasn't long before I started to hear the woman's voice…"

 _Woman's voice? She said she wasn't sure what gender the voice belonged to._

Stephen was about to say something, probably pertaining to Mai's mistake, but Orion gestured for him to be quiet. Mai was not one to lie. She may leave out information without realizing, but never on purpose and certainly has never lied about it.

Looking back at Mai showed that she didn't even register the pause. Something was wrong. Mai had the uncanny ability of being able to pick up on the emotions going on within a room.

"I sped up my pace thinking that I could catch up with the woman, but instead I was in our meeting place. I wasn't there long before you showed up. We talked, you left then the ground fell out from underneath me and…and…I don't remember what happened next."

She'd barely finished her story when Stephen erupted with, "You can't remember? What do you mean you can't remember?"

Several of us glared at Stephen for daring to yell at Mai, myself included, but before anyone of us could say anything to him, his phone rang.

"Stephen," he said in greeting. "What..."

"I'm on my way."

Hanging up the phone he looked at us and said, "I've got to go. Something's come up at HQ. Mai think about what I said."

Before he could leave Malia told him to hang on and she'd walk out with him as she had some where to be. Stephen didn't look too pleased, but not having a good excuse agreed. The door hadn't even been shut when the arguing between the two had begun.

Ayako looked at her watch and sighed. "I hate to say this, but I've got to go too. I have a shift that begins in half an hour."

"I've got practice," Monk said. "So I've got to go too."

John looked guilty as he spoke, "I've got to be at the church soon."

"I have to get to the library and do some research before they close," Yasu said.

Masako didn't say anything as she got up and left with everyone else. Soon the only people who were left were myself, Mai, Orion, Lin, Madoka, Gene, mother, and father.

Orion stared after the group before turning to Mai. "Can I tell you a story?"

Looking caught off guard Mai responded with, "Sure."

Giving him a wary look she complied and the rest of us re-situated so we could hear what Orion had to say. Once situated he began his story.

* * *

 **Please review!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey there everyone! It's finally done! This chapter took longer than I thought it would between research and my computer needing to be fixed. Thank you for your patience and enjoy!**

* * *

 **Mai's POV**

I was nervous to hear what Orion had to say. There were to many blank spots within my memories. I knew something was wrong with the retelling of my dream when almost everyone one had an odd look on their face and Stephen was about to say something.

"In the beginning, before Earth was created and the gods and goddesses still existed, seven beings were created by the god of the universe. Five were males and two were female, each having an element they were responsible for."

 _Elements? Does he mean something like the Chinese Elements?_

"When you say elements are you meaning the Chinese Elements?" Lin asked from where he sat.

Orion hesitated a moment before saying, "The Chinese Elements are: Wood (mu), Fire (huo), Earth (tu), Metal (jin), and Water (shui) correct?" At Lin's nod he continued, "Yes and no. Many cultures have different elements that represent that culture. I've seen many forms of the elements and I can guarantee that there are way more than five, there are even more than seven. The elements I am referring to are Fire, Water, Earth, and Air, which are the most common of elements. Light and Dark, which are neutral elements that tend to balance each other out most of the time. The last element isn't really considered an element as it encompasses all of the elements."

I looked at Orion puzzled. I was wondering what this had to do with my earlier question. I didn't have to say anything as Gene did it for me.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but what does this have anything to do with what Mai asked earlier?"

Orion gave a slight smile before replying with, "I'll get to that in a second."

Orion didn't talk just to hear himself speak. Whatever he said always had some meaning to it. Even though this story is so far bizarre and doesn't seem like it has anything to do with what I asked I trust Orion enough to be willing to listen to him.

"The god of the universe created these seven beings to protect the universe from evil. Their names were Cassandra Nona, Daichi Farrell, Gareth Xylander, Ignacio Ciro, Kayla Alohi, Tate Kaden, and Zain Lucian, and as I said before each one was and is responsible for a certain element. Cassandra was over water, Daichi was over wind, Gareth was over earth, Ignacio was over fire, Kayla was over all of the elements, Tate was over light, and Zain was over dark. The purpose of these seven beings was protection of the entire universe from the god of the universe's brother the god of absolute evil."

Gene had a look of confusion on his face before he spoke up and asked, "People couldn't have come up with better names than the god of the universe and the god of absolute evil? Do they have different names?"

Something about what Gene had asked sparked a memory. I knew their names. How I knew their names I wasn't sure, but I did. "The god of the universe's name is Ace meaning 'unit, number one, or the best'. He was named this because he is basically the heart of the universe. The god of absolute evil's name is Doran which means 'exile'. He is also known as Duncan which means 'dark warrior'. Doran chose self-exile over being within his brother's company because he was jealous of the attention his brother got.

One day Doran had had enough and started a war with Ace. The war lasted for a long, long time before the god of the universe decided that enough was enough and ended the war. As a consequence of starting the war Doran was exiled for real. Ace knew that that wouldn't be the last that any of them would see of Doran so the seven were created to keep peace. And they did for thousands of years making sure that Doran never escaped his prison. It wasn't until the second war of the gods broke that things went downhill."

Everyone was looking at me odd and I knew it was because of what I had just said, but I couldn't muster up enough emotion to care. Orion was the only one who was looking at me differently from the others. He was assessing me rather than looking at me like I'd lost my marbles.

I was starting to feel light headed and somewhat drained. I don't know what it is about the story that Orion had started, but it was familiar as if I had lived through it. With that thought something clicked within me and made me think. _In the past was I either Cassandra or Kayla. Was I reincarnated?_

"Mai, I want to ask you a couple of questions and I need you to be honest with me. Can you do that?" Orion asked.

 _Why wouldn't I be honest?_

"Uh sure," I said in response not really wanting to, but knowing I needed to.

He gave me a smile before beginning, "Are you feeling light headed?"

A blinked in surprise wonder how he could possibly know that. "Yes."

He nodded while Naru scowled. Madoka had a look of concern on her face along with Naru and Gene's mother. Lin and Martin had a blank look on their faces they were not going to make a judgement one way or the other. Gene had a far away look that made me wonder if he was having a vision.

"You're feeling drained, as if you've lived through this before and are looking at it from an outsider's perspective."

"Yes, but how do you know this?" I asked astonished. I didn't think I had allowed for my emotions to show through that much.

He smiled at me and I could tell that it pained him to do so as the smile did not reach his eyes, there was only pain there. "Personal experience."

"What do you mean by personal experience?"

"When the second war of the gods broke out the god of the universe demanded that the seven protectors were not to get involved with the war. He'd said that the gods and their creations needed to work things out amongst themselves. The seven didn't understand why, but they followed his orders at least for a while."

Terror gripped me making it hard to breath. I knew what was going to happen next. One of the seven betrayed the group causing it to fall apart. Someone died, someone from my past, someone I cared for deeply. I'd apparently stopped paying attention long enough for Orion to stop and stare at me with a concerned expression. Mumbling an apology, I nodded for Orion to continue.

"What you need to understand about the protectors is that Daichi and Kayla were mates…"

"Mates? What do you mean by mates?" Madoka asked. She'd scooted to the edge of her seat as if anticipating his answer.

Tilting his head slightly to the side Orion blinked at her for a couple of seconds before a look of understanding crossed his facial features. "I'm sorry it seems I forgot to clarify a major part if the story at the very begging. When the seven were created the god of the universe gave them a unique trait, the ability to shift into one specific animal. Shifters have mates and humans have soulmates which is essentially the same thing.

"Despite mates being a permanent thing Ignacio fell in love with Kayla. Well more like he fell in love with what she could do. Kayla felt only friendship with everyone, but Daichi. At first both Daichi and Kayla fought their attraction to each other not realizing that they were mates. I'm not sure when they realized it, but when they did the two became inseparable. Instead of leaving things be or trying to win Kayla's heart Ignacio allowed Doran to influence him. Doran had convinced Ignacio that if Daichi were to die then she'd have no one to go to, but him.

"Well it didn't work out quite like what Ignacio wanted. He had successfully betrayed everyone without them realizing it and helped kill Daichi. The thing is no secret stayed hidden from Kayla for long. She found out about Ignacio's involvement not to long after it happened and well let's just say things didn't turn out well for him. In the end Kayla was the one to kill Ignacio.

"The betrayal left the five remaining protectors reeling and struggling to keep up with their duties. Eventually they were cursed and dragged to Earth where they were no longer immortal. Fearing for the universe Ace twisted the spell placed on the protectors. Yes, they were still mortal in a sense, but were reincarnated."

The word reincarnated doesn't sit well with me. Something wasn't right, the word just didn't seem to fit. I wasn't the only one who seemed to think so as Naru spoke up.

"What you're saying seems so farfetched. Are you saying that Mai is the reincarnation of either Cassandra or Kayla? Does that mean that you are also a reincarnation?"

Orion looked tired as he smiled at us while running a hand through his hair. I felt a pang of sympathy for him. This had to be hard for him.

"Yes and no. We are more than mere reincarnations. No, I guess reincarnation is not the right word to say. We are more similar to phoenixes than anything. We're not reborn in the same sense, but something similar. When we die or are body is damaged beyond repair time is turned backwards for us and we become a babe once more. Our memories are blocked until we are reminded of them through similar situations or when someone is telling us about them. Like am doing right now."

I was surprised that Naru wasn't arguing with Orion. Out of everyone I would have thought he'd be the most likely person to disagree with something like this.

"I hate to point this out to you Orion, but I am no shifter. I think I would have known if I was one. So, I can't be one of the protectors," I said.

Orion looked at me and started to laugh. "None of us are shifters anymore. Shifters have almost become extinct. It's rare to see a shifter, but they still exist. No, we became human since it would help us blend in easier."

I gave a small smile trying to imagine what being a shifter would be like. Then again, I wondered if it would be harder to be a shifter because of having another presence within your body.

"You said each was given a unique gift. Does that mean you guys were different types of shifters?" Madoka asked with a notepad and pencil in hand.

 _She's actually taking notes! I knew she enjoyed researching, but this was a little much. Does she even believe everything that's being said?_

"Yes, each one of us was a different type of shifter."

Lin, Gene, and Martin looked like they were still skeptical over the entire thing. Not that I could blame them as I was still skeptical. This all seemed to be a fantasy tale, one that should not exist.

"Who was what kind of shifter?"

I wasn't paying attention, but I could have sworn that it was Naru who asked that question. If it was Naru then I'd wonder if he was sick. Naru never questioned anything without having solid facts, not that I was going to complain as he'd asked the very question I was thinking.

"Well…let's see. Cassandra was a leopard shifter, Daichi was a greater sooty owl, Ignacio was a phoenix, Gareth was a gray wolf, Kayla was a kitsune, Tate was a unicorn, and Zain was a fennec fox."

I blinked in surprise at the diverse species that we were. I was even more curious to see who I was in the past. I was beating on the leopard.

"I'm guessing Mai was Cassandra the leopard shifter," Madoka said with a smile, while others nodded their heads.

"Why do you say that?" Orion asked.

Gene was the one to answer instead of Madoka. "Mai is fierce, sly, and sometimes lazy when she wants to be. She just has the personality of a cat."

I could feel my face heating up and I was pretty sure I was bright red. I never thought that I gave off the vibe of cattiness. The only one who seemed to disagree with this statement was Naru and I wasn't sure if I should be grateful or disappointed.

"Noll, you don't seem to agree with your brother. Why?" Madoka called out no doubt trying to embarrass him.

"Mai doesn't portray likeness to a cat. If anything, she's more like a kitsune. Kitsune are fierce warriors whose main ability is illusion. If you remember whenever Mai was hurt, sad, or upset she would hide it away giving us the illusion that she's okay. Kitsune tend to only get involved in what they deem important and if you ever noticed that's what Mai would do. Lastly a kitsune is fiercely loyal and will do anything to ensure the safety of those they are loyal to or care about. Sound familiar?"

I knew my mouth was hanging open, but I didn't care. I had no idea that Naru thought of me like that. Nor did I realize just how much he paid attention to me. Maybe he does love me, but was afraid. Just as that thought crossed my mind I threw it out Naru wasn't afraid of anything.

"I have to say I've never met anyone who could summarize Mai to a t. Mr. Davis you're correct in your assumptions of Mai being Kayla the kitsune shifter. Mai you're Kayla our beloved leader. I know it's a lot of information to process, I too was overwhelmed when it was first revealed to me. Over time your memories will return to you. They'll return to you in many different forms such as visions/dreams. I suspect your dreams are memories trying to return to you. Don't ever hesitate to reach out to me if you have any more questions."

When Orion was finished speaking he left the building in a puff of glittery smoke.

"He was Tate the unicorn shifter," I said absentmindedly.

* * *

 **Please review!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Whoo here's the next chapter. I wanted to let everyone know that I am doing some serious research when making these chapters. I am researching the meanings behind names and I'm also reasearching the mythology of England, Scottland, Japan, and China so that when I mention certain things I know what I am talking about. I hope you enjoy!**

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 **Naru's POV**

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"Huh?" Madoka huffed out in response to Mai's proclamation.

Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if the man was a former unicorn shifter. All my mind could focus on was what Orion had said about Mai having a soulmate already. That cut more deeply than anything I've been through lately. It seemed that the universe was against me, I'd been close to telling Mai that I was wrong and that she meant a lot to me, but with this new revelation I knew that I wouldn't be able to tell her. I refuse to be the second option besides if she were ever to find her soulmate again I didn't want her to be forced to give me up for him or for her to not be with him to be with me.

"What do you mean huh?" Mai asked.

"How would you know that he was Tate?" Madoka asked.

Mai smiled and replied with, "A feeling, the glitter kind of gives it away."

That comment made me smile, but then it vanished when I thought about what we were going to be doing next. Gene seemed to be deep in thought as he sat next Lin staring out the window.

"Noll, we never did get the chance to go over the case with the others before they had to leave."

I glanced at my father before scowling at the folder on the coffee table. I knew that I would definitely be able to tell them about it tomorrow, but I wanted their input on it today.

"No, we didn't. There is always tomorrow. Our client doesn't need our decision until next week, I just wanted their opinion on the case."

Mai seemed to hesitate before speaking. "What is the case about? If you'd like I could give my opinion from a demon hunter's perspective."

I sighed contemplating the wisdom of telling her. With everything that had happened Mai would have enough to deal with without adding this to it. Looking towards Gene had finished thinking and was looking at me shaking his head no.

 **Noll, I don't think it would be wise to tell Mai about the case. She has enough stuff to deal with. She doesn't need this added on top of things.**

 **I know. I wasn't planning on saying anything. I'm just figuring out how to tell her that we don't need her help.**

 **You being abrupt hasn't stopped you from being blunt before. Besides shouldn't you allow me the decision of if it's too much for me to handle?**

Both Gene and I jumped in surprise at hearing Mai's voice in our heads. We both were staring at her. Gene's mouth was open in shock and I know my face showed surprise based on Lin's lifted eyebrow. Mai on the other hand looked irritated.

"How long have you been able to do that?" Gene asked gaining questioning looks from mother, father, Madoka, and Lin.

Mai gave a smirk and said, "I just figured it out. I could hear the two of you talking and wondered if I could speak to the two of you with mind. It worked and before you ask no I have not been able to do so before today. I wonder if vision had anything to do with unlocking this ability."

This should shock me, but with it being Mai I wasn't. Anything involving her was never normal. Seeing the stubborn look on her face I knew that we wouldn't be leaving until she was told what the case was about.

"The case is not far from here, it's located in Nerima. The owner of the house has been hearing odd noises, things have gone missing or have been moved, and people are being shoved down stairs when no one is there."

Mai narrowed her eyes at me as if she knows that I'm with holding information from her. "What aren't you saying about the case? This doesn't seem like something you'd take."

Gene coughed, Madoka had a smirk on her face and Lin had a small smile on his face while he typed away on his laptop. I had to remember to ask him how he could bring out his laptop without me noticing.

I gave another sigh before speaking. "The owner sent me some pictures of words etched on the attic's wall."

I picked up the folder that had the case's information in it and pulled out the pictures. Looking for the better ones I handed them over once I found them. She looked at them and started frowning. She sifted through them before returning to the first one. Handing the rest back to me she studied the picture some more. Looking through the other pictures I saw that she had kept the one that had the odd writing.

"Chan eil na daoine a tha gaol leinn a 'falbh, Bidh iad a 'coiseachd ri taobh a h-uile latha, Gun fhios, gun fhios, ach daonnan faisg, Fàilte gu leòr, fhathast air a chall agus air a bhith glè thoilichte. Chan fhaigh an Coidse Bàs thu thu."

I looked up in shock along with everyone else. Lin even stopped typing on his laptop. Mai was frowning at the picture before she looked at the rest of us smiling sheepishly.

"Hehe, sorry the words on the wall are Gaelic. My father err the man who was a part of the beginning of my life was from Scotland and we lived there because that is were the demon hunters' society headquarters is located. I can speak the language fluently," she said still smiling sheepishly.

"What does it mean?" Lin asked fingers poised to continue typing.

"Whoever wrote this wasn't very fluent as the translation is:

'The loved ones are not going away,

They walk alongside every day,

Of course, unknown, but always near,

Welcome enough, still lost and been very happy.

The Death Coach will not get you.' It is a rough translation," she said still staring at the picture.

"Do you have any idea what it means?" father asked.

Mai looked hesitant to answer. She took a deep breath before speaking. "I think I know what they meant to say. When I was growing up I had a pet black dog and when he died my father said we should respect his life by reading a poem. The poem was:

'Those we love don't go away,

They walk beside us every day,

Unseen, unheard, but always near,

Still loved, still missed and very dear.'

"I'm wondering if they meant this when they were trying to write in Gaelic. What worries me is the mention of the Death Coach."

I know I'd heard of the Death Coach from somewhere before, but I couldn't place where. Lin seemed to frown at the mention of the Death Coach and the black dog. I didn't know why he would frown at the mention of a black dog, but if he deemed it important it probably was.

"What is important about the Death Coach?" mother asked.

Mai paused once more before speaking. "The Death Coach is better known as the Coiste Bodhar. The Coiste Bodhar is the driver of the dead, it is drawn by four to six headless horse and driven by the Dullahan. It is often summoned by the scream of a Banshee and cannot return from where it was summoned without at least one soul. Once the soul is on the Coiste Bodhar it cannot escape the final destination."

"Final destination?" Madoka asked.

"I assume it means the afterlife," Mai said fiddling with the end of her tank top. "Lin is something wrong? You look not upset, but not puzzled either, maybe something in between."

"You mention that when you were young that you had a pet black dog. What kind of breed was it?" Lin asked inspecting Mai as if trying to detect a certain reaction.

Mai blushed before whispering, "Mauthe Doog."

Lin's eye widened considerably which was astonishing as I'd never seen him show so much attention. Whatever this Mauthe Doog is must be important for him to react as such.

"You had a _black dog_! As in one of the legendary ghost dogs," Lin stated slapping his hands down on the coffee table as he half rose to his feet.

Mai sat straighter in her seat as her eye became defensive. "Yes, I had a black dog. My father said it was the runt of the litter as it wasn't as big as it should have been. Legend says that they are supposed to be as big as a calf and shaggy, but he was shorter by several inches and was a short hair instead of shaggy. Like any myth/legend the creature can take on any appearance they want."

"I hate to ask, but what is the black dog?" Madoka asked.

Everyone in the room looked to her confused stare. Mai looked at as if she was nuts for asking, not that I blame her. Madoka has lived in England long enough to know what the black dog is, but then again it wasn't a true ghost that we had to deal with.

"Madoka, the black dog is a ghost of sorts. Legend has it that the black dog is a spectral creature that indicates great change and/or death. It is rare that one wants to be helpful, so most people are wary of the dog and rightly so. It is debated whether or not the dog is a ghost or demon," I said looking over my notes on the case. "Mai, you mentioned something about a Death Coach?"

"The Death Coach better known as the Coiste Bodhar in Scotland and Ireland. It is said that on foggy nights, in the event of a death, or in an upcoming death that a black coach drawn by four headless horses. The coach is sent from the land of the dead to pick up the soul of the person who will be dying or has died and cannot return back to the land of the dead without at least one soul. The coach is driven by the Dullahan which is the headless horseman. He is the only known male banshee."

Through her entire conversation Mai didn't blink or hesitate with what she said. By Lin's and Madoka's expression Mai knew quite a lot about the subject. I didn't know anything about this subject and it wasn't something I was interested in.

"You sure know a lot about this," Gene said eyeing Mai as if he was trying to decide whether or not he should be awed by her knowledge or fearful.

"Well I would hope so after meeting the damn banshee," she said grumbling as she looked out the window behind Lin.

I blinked at that.

* * *

 **Please review!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hey everyone. I thought I had typed this chapter up and posted it a while ago, but apparently I didn't. Well here it is now. Hope you enjoy. Please review and tell me what you think. I thrive on reviews.**

* * *

 **Mai**

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Everyone was looking at me like I had a third head. "What?" I asked earning incredulous looks.

"What do you mean what?! You just said that you'd met a _dullahan_ as if it wasn't a big deal! If the _dullahan_ exist does that mean all of the myths are real?" Madoka asked.

I felt another headache coming on and wasn't too happy. Her question triggered a memory, but not one I recognized from my current life, it must have been from one of my past go rounds.

 _I find it very strange to think about past lives._

"Crap!" I cried out before everything went black.

Groaning I opened my eyes only to shut them due to the blinding light. Slowly opening them I blinked trying to allow them to adjust. Sticking my hand up to shield my face I noticed that my hand and arm were bandaged.

 _What the hell?_ I thought as I bolted up.

A wave of dizziness swept over me and I listed to the side before a pair of hands steadied me. The hands were warm and familiar. I wasn't afraid of the person who prevented my fall because I'd recognize Naru anywhere. Smiling I looked up at him ready to thank him only to see that it wasn't Naru who caught me.

The man who currently held me was similar to Naru in height and bulk, but nothing else. Where Naru's hair was black and his eyes a dark indigo blue this man's hair was as blonde as John's and he sported hazel colored eyes. A scar adorned his face starting from his right brow and ending on the bridge of his nose.

"Careful Kayla! You don't want to move too fast. How are you feeling?" the man asked, concern written on his face.

I just blinked at him trying to figure out what to say. Remembering my bandaged hand and arm I started taking inventory of my body. I was hurting all over, but the pain was a dull throb. Both arms and legs were bandaged, my midsection was also bandaged, and I had a sneaking suspicion that my head was bandaged too. Sure, enough when I lifted my hand to my head I felt bandages there.

"Kayla are you feeling all right?" he asked one more time fear lacing his voice.

Ignoring his question, I glanced around at my surroundings. I was currently on a cot within a tent and that the man and I weren't the only ones there. Five others surrounded me. Two others were tending to three wounded people.

 _I must be in a medical tent._ I thought as I studied the people around me.

The person to the blonde's left was a female who looked to be a good four inches taller than myself. Her hair was a blazing red that reminded me of fire that framed an oval face with eyes of amethyst. The woman was on the side of a little to thin, but she seemed to muscular. Next to her stood a man that looked to be six feet with hair as white as snow and eyes as grey as storm clouds. He was bulky with wide shoulders reminding me of a giant, but there was a gentleness about him that put me at ease. The next man was the same height as the blonde with amber eyes and amber hair. Looking at him it seemed as if fire burned within his eyes. The man had a trim build marking as a possible runner. If I thought the white-haired man was a giant then the next person was extremely tall. This man had platinum blonde hair and green eyes. Staring at him a little longer than the others made me realize that he looked a lot like Orion. Moving onto the last person revealed that he was similar in height to the blonde and amber-haired men. His hair color was white blonde with bright green eyes similar to that of a cat's. Worry marred all of their faces.

Putting my hand back to my head I started to remember who these people were. "Daichi?" I asked tentatively not wanting to call him by the wrong name.

The man smiled in response, wiping the worried look that was on his face. The others sighed in relief that I'd called the man by the right name, which had me confused. I wondered why it was imperative that I called out his name? It was then that I realized what he'd called me. Kayla. I was living out the first of my many lives.

Laughing he sat next to me and drew me into a hug burring his head into my hair before saying, "For a few minutes there I thought you didn't recognize us."

I sighed leaning into his embrace all the while inhaling his scent, I felt at peace in his arms. "What happened?" I asked.

"Huh? What do you mean what happened?" the woman with fiery red hair asked. She reminded me of a mix of Madoka and Ayako.

The man with amber hair snorted before speaking gruffly at the woman, "Really Cassandra? Give the general a break! She did take a header off of a cliff in order to win the war."

Something about what the man had said didn't sound quite right, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Not really in the mind set to dwell on it I turned my attention to Cassandra who was scowling at the man for being so gruff with her.

"Ignacio is right," the man with white hair said preventing the woman from snarking back. Turning to me he smiled and began to speak, "Two weeks ago you ended the war between all of the gods, making it so that they can't fight each other as a whole, but within their own factions. So, the Celtic gods can only fight with other Celtic gods and so forth. I wonder how many worshippers and their deities will vanish."

 _So, at one time all mythological beings were at one time grouped as a whole?_

Before anything more could be said everything faded to black. This time around when I awoke it was to pitch darkness. Giving a frustrated snort I got up and started walking. I was seriously getting sick of passing out.

It wasn't long before I got the niggling feeling that someone was standing behind me. Slowing down I turned my head slightly as if to see which way I should go but saw no one. Turning around I was met with nothing, but the darkness that I was currently stuck in.

Sighing I started walking once more. Again, it wasn't long before I got the feeling of being watched. Whirling around revealed that there wasn't anyone behind me. Growling in frustration I took off running.

It didn't matter how far I ran the presence was still there. Whatever it was it wasn't malicious. Slowing down I acted on instinct and closed my eyes searching for whatever the presence was.

There about five feet away stood a handsome man. He looked to be in his early thirties or late twenties. Standing at about seven foot he had silver hair and silver eyes. Glancing at his attire I saw that he wore a grey t-shirt accompanied with some blue wranglers and black tennis shoes.

Smiling the man opened his mouth and began speaking, "Hello, Mai. I was wondering when you'd let instinct guide you."

Blinking in surprise I replied without thinking. "Do I know you?"

The man laughed at seeing my discomfort. "Yes, you do know me and no I'm not going to say who I am. You've got to remember that on your own. Just know this I am a close friend of yours."

His answer was familiar, but I couldn't place where from. Lifting my eyebrow did nothing but cause him to laugh once more. It was frustrating as I knew him, but at the same time I didn't.

"So, can you tell me what that dream or memory was all about?" I asked hoping he'd tell me what it meant.

"You were remembering the time where you separated all of the gods into similar factions. You're the very reason myths exist."

I blinked not sure if he was accusing me of a crime or something. I couldn't focus very well my mind kept going back to Garret's comment. Even that made me pause in confusion as I wondered how I instinctively knew the white-haired man's name.

"At the time, this was the best course of action. Now the deities of this era have no knowledge of each other. They believe that they are the sole rulers of the universe and that the other gods that people worship to be nothing more than made up."

This was a lot of information to process. I knew that if one set of gods deemed the practice of worship of another god unfit then they could cause quite the stir. I couldn't tell if the man before was pleased with what I'd done or nor and for whatever reason his opinion mattered.

"Happiness is irrelevant to what needed to be done," he said with a sad smile on his face.

"Did you just read my mind?" I asked utterly shocked at the possible intrusion.

The bastard had the audacity to laugh at me. "It is true that I can read minds, but I am unable to read yours. You were created with a mind block making it impossible for the gods to read your mind. The only ones who could read your mind in a desperate situation were the other six protectors. The other six were created so that they could read your mind when the situation became dire. An example of this would be when you wee captured from time to time and they needed a way to locate you. If you're stressed then and then can a god listen to your thoughts. The other six were not created with such abilities, sure they have a stronger will than most, but they don't have that absolute block you have."

Something the man said wasn't right. I wasn't sure what it was, but it had something to do with us being guardians. He continued as if nothing was wrong.

"I didn't need to read your mind to know what you were thinking. Your face displays all of your emotions. And before you ask yes Kayla was the sane way. No matter how many times you're "reborn" you'll still be the same person just with a different name."

"So, you knew me in the past? Are you still alive? Or are you a ghost?" I asked catching onto the fact that he called me by my "supposed" past name.

"Yes, I knew you in the past and yes I'm still alive. I make sure that I reestablish myself in your life every time you have to go through remembering your past."

Whether he knew it or not he broached the subject I feared the most. The very reason I rejected the possibility of me having a previous life let alone multiple lives. How can I be the same person?

A couple of things dawned on me about what he'd said and about what Ignacio had said.

"I'm sorry to be jumping around, but something dawned on me about the memory. When Ignacio was speaking he said I took a header of a cliff. I'm pretty sure that's not how we talked back then."

"That's because your dreams will adapt to the language of the era allowing you to understand them a bit more. It's so that you don't have to do a lot of research. Do you have any other questions?"

"Yes. You said that I'm the very reason myths exist correct?"

"That is correct."

"And because I separated the gods into similar groups the gods can't communicate with anyone outside their faction."

"That is correct," he replied, eyes twinkling.

"Does that mean they can only appear to their followers?"

"This is correct, but like all rules there are exceptions. Ghost Hunters and Demon Hunters are few who can see all of the myths. The other exception is that as long as the person believes that religion then they're able to see any myth associated with that religion. You are a rare exception as the myths can have an active role in your daily life where as most of the time myths have no inter action with people."

That made me pause and think about my life growing up. I'd never noticed how many creatures and deities that are considered myths that I'd encountered.

"I hate to cut this meeting short, but time is running out for us to chat. Mai the times are changing you and the other six guardians will be called upon to protect the universe once more. The forces of darkness are starting to gather an army. You must find the other six guardians and start your own demon hunters' society. Daichi and Ignacio's reincarnated forms are closer than you realize. This time through they are brothers and you won't have to worry about the past repeating itself as Ignacio will be meeting his soulmate through the events to come. Be careful and know that I am always watching and guiding the seven of you. Once you remember who I am all you have to do is call my name and I will be there for you. Until we meet again."

I didn't get to respond to what he'd said when once again everything went black. Bolting up I banged my forehead against something hard. Blinking I saw that I'd bashed foreheads with Naru.

"I'm really starting to get tired of this shit!" I stated after I sat all the way up. "Sorry, Naru, I didn't mean to hit you."

Luella, Gene, and Madoka busted out laughing. Naru scowled while Martin and Lin looked at me to see if I was all right. Even Naoki had made an appearance. He too looked concerned which I found puzzling.

Naoki was a demon and I was a demon hunter he should despise me on site not give these mixed signals. Unless he knew me from the past. I'm not sure which I found more disconcerting the fact that Naoki could have known me in the past or the fact that I was taking this crap rather well.

Snapping my head in his direction I stared at him. A sense of betrayal along with a sense of loss hit me robbing me of breath. I knew for a fact the Naoki wasn't the man that I'd been talking with in my dream as I didn't get a feeling of betrayal or loss with that man, no with him I felt comfort. No Naoki was someone else that I'd known from my past.

"Naoki isn't your real name is it? We met somewhere before I became a demon hunter," I said and at his nod I continued, "You betrayed me and I did something in retaliation."

He gave me a bitter smile before speaking softly, "I thought that I was doing the right thing only to find out I was wrong. In retaliation of my betrayal… you killed me."

I knew I had a look of horror on my face. I couldn't believe that I'd ever kill someone. Yeah, sure I couldn't stand betrayal, but to kill someone over it was kind of extreme.

Naoki laughed at my reaction. _What is it with people laughing at me?_

"You're probably thinking that, that is a little extreme, but keep in mind that back when I originally knew you that killing someone wasn't as heavily condemned if the reason for the death is a valid one. You above all were pure when it came to war. Many of us thought you a saint. You never betrayed one who you gave your loyalty to unless they betrayed you first. Had people's lives not depended on you to keep them safe you wouldn't have killed me. You used my death as a lesson to the rest of the army showing that you would not put up with betrayal and prevented it from happening again."

"If that is so then how is it that you became a demon?" Madoka asked with shining bright eyes. It seemed she was very interested in my past.

"One of the gods cursed me into this form because of my betrayal."

 _I bet it was the god of war._

"Can it be reversed?" Luella asked.

"Yes, it can. I do not wish to reverse it though for I am happy as I am now. It has been a long time since I've been human I wouldn't know what to do with myself if I were ever to become human once more." He smiled before continuing, "Please, don't be sad for me. I'm the only one at fault for this situation."

I sighed and said, "Very well. I wonder why all of a sudden I meeting people from my past."

Naoki blinked at me for a couple of seconds before speaking, "Mai everyone you have a connection or friendship with has been someone from your past."

With that said he vanished leaving me with a lot to think about. It was silent in the office for quite some time before Madoka spoke up breaking the silence. "So back to what we were talking about earlier. Mai is it true that all of the myths are real?"

I looked at her for a few minutes trying to decide on how to best answer her question. "Yes, but the myths can only have an active role within the lives of the people who believe in their religion. Ghost Hunters and Demon Hunters are few who can see all of the myths or as long as the person believes in that religion then they're able to see any myth associated with that religion."

They were all shocked and I couldn't blame them if they chose not to believe me. I wasn't completely sure if I believe in it myself. This whole situation was screwed up. I was wishing for things to go back to the way they used to be.

This entire time I thought I knew who I was only to find out that it was all a lie. Now I've got to find out who I truly am in order to feel whole. There was also the fact that I have a soul mate out there somewhere that has been reborn. I have no idea how I'm going to handle all of this.

"You seem to be taking this all rather well," Luella said giving me a motherly smile.

I smiled before replying, "To be honest Mrs. Davis…"

"Luella, dear, or mother if you'd prefer."

"Err…right. To be honest Luella I don't think it's fully hit me yet."

"That is quite understandable. Is there any way to defeat the death coach or the dullahan?" Martin asked.

"No there isn't. The death coach must return from where he came from with at least one soul. It's the dullahan's job to ensure that one is on board whether it is by choice or by force. I doubt the hauntings are caused by the dullahan though. More than likely the person who made that carving did a spell and bound a soul to the house and somehow prevented the dullahan from seeing it. Not able to find the soul it was sent out to get he would have picked up another in able to return home. He is to busy to bother with a single soul."

That made everyone pause and I know Naru was planning on what they were going to be doing next. Looking at Naru I could see that he was contemplating on something. "Mai could you please come with us?" he asked nicely.

I was surprised by how the fact that his voice bordered on pleading. Never in the entire time I'd worked for him had I ever heard him close to pleading. Naru had to be desperate to have me on this case. The only thing that I couldn't figure out was why.

"I guess I could. When are you planning on going to the house?"

"I told the owners the earliest we could be out there being Monday."

That gave me four days to speak with my boss. It might be difficult to get the time off this close, but it would be amazing to work with the gang again. I'd have to see what I could do.

"I'll let you know if I can make it on Monday by Friday afternoon. If not give me the address and I'll swing by after work to help out. Does this work for you?"

Naru hesitated before nodding. I don't think he was truly okay with it, but he knew how stubborn I could be and that if he truly wanted my help he had no choice.

Getting up I said my goodbyes and headed out the door. Half way down the block I ran into Victor Geller and with the smile he gave me I began to suspect that he wasn't who he said he was. There was something familiar about him. His smile reminded me of a fox's and it was then that it hit me. I knew who this was, at least I did in the past.

"Zian Lucian the fennec fox. Is your last name really Geller?" I asked knowing that I should have looked him up after our first meeting.

He flinched back surprised at my bluntness before smiling once more and falling in step with me. "No, it isn't. I wasn't sure if you'd look me up or not so I had to hide as much as possible. I did keep the first name as it was. This go through I'm Victor Kearn. And before you ask yes, the story I told you yesterday wasn't the full truth, but since you still didn't know who you were/are I couldn't say anything and risk you remembering. We've all been around you at one point or another and each time you've come close to recognizing us."

I had to smile at what he said. I knew that I was unpredictable on a regular basis and it seemed that I was like that in the past. What had me frowning was why they couldn't allow me to remember them or myself. Something was going on and I needed to find out.

We headed towards the same shop that we'd gone to yesterday which made me smile. He glanced at me with an odd look. So, I said, "We were just here yesterday. Is this going to be our regular meeting place?"

He gave me a sheepish smile as he held the door open. Entering after me he guided me towards the same seats as the other day.

Once we placed our orders I turned to Victor and said, "Spill."

Smiling Victor began to talk. "As I said before the story I gave you wasn't fully accurate. I was actually sent here to kill Stephen and to find you. The corrupt members of the council said that if it was possible to kill you then do so. I don't think they realize that I'm not one of their lackies yet. I was planning on making it look like Stephen was dead and having him stay here."

This news had me more worried about what was going on and what needed to be done to fix it. I was wondering how many people were truly corrupt and how many were salvageable. Was it even possible to pull people from the Headquarters?

"This is worrisome. I'll see if Naru can get Stephen to come along with us if you get Orion and the others to meet us at this address," I said handing him the piece of paper with the address of the house we'd be going to on Monday then added, "We need to come up with a plan. Bring them on Monday."

"Sure, I can do that. The only people that we're missing are Daichi and Ignacio."

I hesitated before saying, "Daichi and Ignacio have been reborn. I'm not sure who they are now, but I do know that they've been reborn as brothers and are close."

Victor blinked at me and I wasn't sure if he was astonished or didn't believe me. It was a couple of minutes before he said anything.

"How do you know this?"

"I'm remembering bits and pieces of my past. I also had a dream/vision of both of them."

All he said was "Ah" before we lapsed into silence as our orders arrived. I gave Naru a quick call and talked with him about getting Stephen to come. After finishing the phone call I enjoyed the rest of my time talking with Victor.


	14. Chapter 14

**Hello my lovelies! I am sooo sorry for the long wait. Between college, work, and loosing the notebook where I write each chapter in my life has been hectic. Here's the next chapter. Don't worry I found the notebook and am working on editing the next chapter. Hope you enjoy.**

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 **Naru's POV**

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I sighed relieved that Mai had agreed to help. I was glad to have her back, but at the same time I was uncertain. Finding out that she had a soul mate already was hard information for me to accept though I wasn't even sure if I believed Orion's story. The entire thing seemed illogical, but then again everything that has happened since I returned has been illogical.

My first reaction to Orion's words I was that I should leave Mai alone, but I just can't stay away. I know that it would be unwise to have anything to do with Mai, but I can't seem to help myself. Having anything to do with her will undoubtedly lead to nothing but heartache. It's as if there is something pulling me towards her, an invisible force that keeps turning me around towards her direction. Hell, if she truly has a soul mate he should be here and since he's not I'll fight for her love. After all, all's fair in love and war.

Sighing I pulled out my notebook and started to document the day's events. It wasn't long before the phone rang shocking me out of my thoughts. Not wanting to deal with anyone at the moment I ignored it knowing Lin or Madoka would get it. I was only half listening when I heard Lin tell whoever was on the phone that I was in.

Lin knew me well enough to know when I wasn't in the mood to speak with anyone. I hoped that whoever was on the line didn't want our services any time soon because I suspected that our current case would take quite a while.

"Noll, it's for you."

"This is Kazua Shibuya," I said using my old pseudonym all the while cursing Lin. I didn't want the media to know that I was currently in Japan. I wanted to build up SPR's reputation without my fame's influence.

"A familiar voice floated through the phone, Dr. Davis, it's Mai."

Blinking I wondered why she would be calling so soon after leaving. I hoped that she wasn't calling to say that she changed her mind about working with us. That would hurt everyone more than her flat-out refusal to help.

"What is it?" I asked hoping that I sounded like my usual calm and cold self and not as if I was disappointed.

"Well aren't we in a lovely mood," she replied.

"Get to the point, Mai," I snapped not wanting to deal with this right now.

"You know what Naru it won't kill you to be nice from time to time. Anyway, I was calling to see if you could get Stephen to come with us on Monday. Something's come up, something big. I'll explain everything on Monday because I don't have the time nor the patience plus I don't feel like repeating myself."

I rolled my eyes at that statement as I could recall a number of times she's made me repeat myself. I didn't call her on it as I was happy that she called me by the nickname she'd given me so instead I said, "Sure."

"Thanks a bunch. I'll let you know tomorrow what my decision will be. Bye."

"Bye," I said as I hung up, in a better mood after speaking with Mai.

Looking up I noticed that everyone was looking at me expectantly. It was as if I had something important to say to them and I needed to start talking. What exactly they were waiting for I could only guess, but there was no way I was going to ask them. I knew that one of them would eventually ask me what that phone call was about, or whatever it was they were expecting.

I was surprised at how long they'd waited before someone spoke up and asked about their question. Looking at the clock I saw that it took them a whole five minutes.

"So, what did Mai want?" Madoka asked looking anxious. It looked like she too thought the same thing as I did.

Glancing in Lin's direction I saw that the man had the audacity to smirk as if he knew what had been said between Mai and I. Before I could say anything, Stephen walked through the door, looked around and frowned. Walking over he sat next to Gene much to Gene's dislike.

"Did anything happen after I life?" Stephen asked once he was settled.

Rolling his eyes, Gene shifted away from Stephen. I couldn't blame Gene for not wanting to sit next Stephen. The guy didn't have any concept of other people's thoughts and feelings.

"Not much. You'll be accompanying us on Monday," I said going back to my notebook and trying to ignore everyone.

"What? Why?" he asked.

"Because Mai said she needed to speak with you."

My answer seemed to irritate him because he snapped at me. "So, what? Last time I checked neither you nor Mai were my boss."

It seemed like Gene didn't want to deal with Stephen either as he snapped back, "It doesn't matter if either is your boss or not. Mai requested your presence though I can't figure out why, but knowing Mai it's important. She doesn't ever do anything without a good reason."

Shock was an understatement at what I felt at that moment. I'd not seen Gene snap at anyone, out of the two of us I was usually the one people consider cranky. I can't remember Gene ever snapping at anyone before.

"Fine." And with that everyone fell into silence.

The rest of the day was uneventful to which I was grateful. The day had gone so smoothly that I had been able to finish the work that needed to be done in the office. I decided that instead of continuing to work I'd go home.

Not wanting to deal with anyone I said I still had some work to do that didn't require me to be at the office. I didn't exactly lie, I did have some work that I could be doing, but I didn't feel like doing it which was unlike me. Instead I got home first and went to bed.

Something tickled the back of my mind urging me to wake up. Blinking awake I found myself in a room that wasn't my own. The room I was currently in was unfamiliar to me, but at the same time I recognized everything. I'd been in this room before, but I couldn't remember when or where. The room was moderately sized but sparsely decorated. Two bookshelves were next to the sole door in the room, one on each side, a desk sat in the middle of the room facing the door, and the bed that I was in was against the wall on the left side of the desk. There were no pictures or windows in the room making it seem more like an office than a bedroom.

While I was observing the room, the door had opened and closed without my knowledge. I didn't even realize that someone was in the room until they spoke.

"How are you feeling?" a melodic voice, that sounded a lot like Mai, asked.

Jumping in surprise my head snapped towards the desk. Mai was sitting on the edge of the desk observing me as if I'd break. There was something different about her and I couldn't figure out what it was. Instead of answering I watched her. This person was not my Mai.

She was dressed completely different from what Mai usually wore. She wasn't wearing the normal outfit of t-shirt, skirt, and tennis shoes or the outfit she wore the other day. Instead she wore a short, silver tank top like shirt that stopped just below her breasts and seemed to be skin tight paired with a silver skirt that looked like it belonged to a Native American warrior, though it had material that was longer in the front and the back so that it exposed her legs yet it covered her womanly parts without even giving a hint of it. She also wore what looked to be silver slippers and a satchel slung across her body resting on her right hip.

Sighing she stood up and approached me. Grabbing my face, she leaned her forehead against mine. "Daichi, please answer me. I know you're still mad at me for what I did two weeks ago, but I need to know that you're okay. You scared me half to death with that stunt," she whispered as she started to stroke my cheek and nuzzle my neck.

I felt myself sigh in resignation before saying, "I'm sorry Kayla. It was not my intention to scare you. I did not want you facing the enemy on your own. We thought that if we headed some of them off then we could have weakened them some. None of us realized that the group we cornered weren't scouts, but part of a brigade. I'm just thankful that no one was killed and that I was the only one seriously injured."

I noticed that I'd moved my hands to cup her face as I spoke. The moment her tears fell onto my hands I felt like a royal ass. Wiping her tears away I said, "Shh, it's all right, I'm okay. Everything's fine now."

She shoved at my shoulders trying to get away. In response I grabbed a hold of her shoulders and drew her closer and didn't let go even when she started to pound on the uninjured part of my chest. I wasn't going to delude myself and think that I was back to a hundred percent, we both knew that I wasn't strong enough to hold her to me so that she couldn't get away. Even if I was at tip top shape Kayla was stronger than any of us. If she truly wanted to break away from me she could have.

"Do you have any idea of how worried I was? I thought you were going to die! No one had any idea where you and your group were! Had one of our scouting parties not come across you all when they did you lot would have died!" she cried out while continuing to hit my chest. "Daichi, don't ever do something so stupid like that ever again! Promise me you won't."

It was then that I realized that this entire time she'd been calling me Daichi and I'd been calling her Kayla. That meant that I was living in the past as Mai's mate and not just dreaming. My heart ached at the knowledge.

I wasn't able to say anything as I was thrown into a different scene. This time I found Mai's caramel brown eyes, filled with unshed tears, were staring at me. Lifting my left hand, I ran it across her cheek. I'd obviously shocked her as she jerked back. Looking into my eyes she gave a chuckle allowing the tears to fall. Grabbing my face, she said, "Damn it, Naru, I thought I'd lost you. Don't ever do that again!"

Once she finished speaking she leaned the rest of the way down and kissed me. I was shocked at first and didn't respond, but gaining my composure I threaded my hands through her hair and deepened the kiss. Kissing Mai was pure bliss, it was better than anything I'd ever dreamed of.

It didn't take long for me to remember myself and end the kiss. Wiping her tears away, I gathered her in my arms where she promptly buried her face in my chest. "Shh it's all right. I'm right here, I'm okay."

My response seemed to anger Mai as she shoved at my shoulders. Tightening my arms, I didn't allow her to break away from me. In response to that she started to beat her fists against my back. I knew that if I'd let Mai go she'd walk out of my life and never look back, which was something I couldn't allow to happen.

"I hate you," she sobbed as she continued to assault my poor back. I knew that she didn't mean what she said, but it still hurt to hear the words. "I hate you! You almost died you jerk. How could you use your powers when there was no way I could've gotten help?"

This confused me until I noticed that we were within a forest. I found the place unsettling since I couldn't hear the normal sounds of a forest. Plus, I had no idea how far into the forest we were.

Once again darkness surrounded me. I was beginning to understand why Mai was constantly frustrated with her dreams. This time I paid attention to my surrounding, instead of pitch black I found myself in an exotic garden. There were a variety of flowers, trees, shrubs of all sizes and colors. Somehow, I felt as if I'd been transported to the land of Oz.

Walking down a path I'd spotted to the left of where I was I came upon these odd purple colored flowers. They were unique in shape reminding me of a trumpet, but the flower curled at the top giving it a slight pitcher affect to it. Though when I looked at it from a different angle the top of the flower looked similar to a shelf. They were beautiful and reminded me of Mai.

"Those are Calla Lilies," someone said from the left side.

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